Sanguine Shields

Sanguine Shields
Battle Cry	"Shield to Shield"/"Mártyras mou!"
Number	1,500 (Estimated)
Founding	22nd Founding
Successors of	Blood Angels
Successor Chapters	None
Chapter Master	Aleksander the Magnificent
Primarch	Sanguinius
Homeworld	Aleksandria
Strength	~3000
Allegiance	Imperium
Colours	Tan, Bone, Red, Purple (command)

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"You will fight as your ancestors fought. You will fight as the men of the Imperial Guard fight. Remember, pride cometh before the fall. Only after you have learned to respect the men you will command, only after you have learned to value their sacrifice, will you, in the name of the Emperor, become a Space Marine."

– Polemarch Aleksander the Magnificent

Overview

A Hypaspist ready for combat in the wastes

The Sanguine Shields are a successor chapter of the Blood Angels based on the planet Aleksandria, located in the Ultima Segmentum. The chapter was founded in M37 during the 22nd Founding by Brother Aleksander the Magnificent, a former member of the Sanguinary Guard, upon the orders of the Senatorum Imperialis. The chapter took part in the Great Culling, where it established links with both the Officio Assassinorum and the Adeptus Mechanicus. The Sanguine Shields are a non-Codex Astartes complaint chapter, and maintain a culture, chapter structure, and series of ranks different from those of the Blood Angels and their successors. The population of Aleksandria is divided between several hundred city states, termed demoi, which are nominally independent of the chapter. The chapter master of the Sanguine Shields rules Aleksandria as the Hegemon of the Aleksandrian League, but generally does not interfere in the affairs of the city states. The leaders of the city states are required to take an oath of loyalty to the chapter master upon their ascension.

The city states of Aleksandria maintain their own Imperial Guard regiments, termed Dune Riders, which favour hit-and-run tactics using light vehicles. As part of Aleksandria's tithe, the city states are required to send their best Dune Riders to the chapter. Most do not return, but those who survive are given the honour of becoming Neophytes. The chapter is based in the Kleisoura, an orbital battle station that acts as the chapter's fortress-monastery. The day-to-day running of the chapter is mainly done by the individual tagmata commanders, the archontes, due to injuries Polemarch Aleksander received during a skirmish with an Ork warband. The heads of the first and second tagmata, together with the head of the Tindanotai, form the Triumvirate, the chapter master's privy council, which rules during his absence.

Tactics and Equipment

Stratagem

The vast majority of Sanguine Shields' tactics revolves around armored assaults, the use of heavy combat vehicles and rapid movements to make quick, overpowering assaults. While the bulk of an assault force is comprised of heavier combat vehicles, their increased mobility and armor gives them an advantage over infantry based armies, allowing them to outmaneuver their opponents with relative ease and safety.

Anvil of Gordian An adaptation of Steel Rain and other Codex maneuvers, the Tears of Baal requires greater precision, fearless Hypastistai, and skilled armour crews. The Tears of Baal, or Blood Rain, consists of three waves of drop insertions, boxing in the enemy. The fore insertion will be the Devastors, the second, Hypastistai, then the final, the Armour and any aspirant Neophytes that will already be on the ground. This insertion is performed in the bulk of the enemy formation, or fired into the enemy itself. What distinguishes Tears of Baal from Steel Rain is that it is simply a maneuver in which Marines can move into another stratagem with ease through proper positioning. Then the stratagem moves into the second phase after dropping pod insertion. The Devastors confront the head of the enemy in an attempt to push them back, whilst the Hypastistai maneuver against the flank of the enemy alongside the wild human neophytes which pushes the enemy into slowly advancing armour.

Trident of Oceanus This stratagem focuses on three elements of armour which charge the enemy head on before, at the last minute, diverging so that the outward prongs move out and attack the flanks. The "shaft" of three Trident, composed of wild neophytes and their ramshackle vehicles and mounted space marines, likewise splits in two and reforms the Trident with the middle prong and drives through the enemy before reforming with the flanking prongs.

Equipment

The Sanguine Shields are a

The Scutum Pattern Combat Shield fuses elements of the Synford Pattern Lockshield, Astartes Storm Shield, and Hydraphur Patterm Suppression Shield. The Scutum Pattern is considerably larger than it's counterpart patterns, the standard Astartes Combat Shield, and require to be held like the Storm Shields, restricting one hand to solely operating the shield. Its design came from a series of compromises between size, defense, and mass production, trading stronger protective field for increased size, and large scale manufacturing. The shield itself shares a similar shape to the Hydraphur Suppression shield sans glass viewing port, covering a large, rectangular section of a Marine's armor.

Since the Sanguine Shields are outfitted with outdated power armor, particularly Mk V set, there tends to be considerable amounts of exposed power cabling due to lackluster head dissipation. In response, the infantry Tagma were outfitted with the Scutum Pattern shield to prevent stray shots from damaging the cabling or other such weak areas. The Scutum has been outfitted with a function similar to the Synford Pattern Lockshield, having the ability to lock with adjacent shields, creating a steadfast bulwark. By locking their shields together, the Battlebrothers within the tagma mitigate a good deal of enemy fire.

History

The origins of the chapter can be traced back to the planet Aleksandria, known at the time as Rhactis. For centuries, the planet's population had been plagued by the vicious xeno animals that called it home. Named the Odontotyrannoi, these creatures resembled the Terran canine. Equipped with power claws and advanced sensors, these quasi-cyborgs preyed on the Rhactish without mercy or respite. The Rhactish sent out a distress signal using the primitive radio technology they had access to, hoping someone would come, but they received no reply. Their suffering continued for centuries, until the message happened to reach a Blood Angels ship which had entered the area. The Blood Angels responded by dispatching two Space Marines, Brother Aleksander, and his commander, Sergeant Maximos, known as "the Furious." Taking their Thunderhawk, the intrepid Astartes journeyed to the world as fast as the Warp would allow, arriving two weeks later. Landing near am abandoned human outpost, the Marines deployed with a squadron of Neophytes, armed with bolters, shields, and melta guns.

Finish me.

Important Figures

Icarius - Genestealer's Bane: Icarius was a powerful Librarian of the Sanguine Shields, and was among the first of his chapter to investigate an unnamed space hulk in the Aleksandria sector. While investigating the space hulk, it appeared all but empty, which led to his Neophytes complaining about their being a lack of targets against which they could test their mettle. Icarius pointed out to the Neophytes that this space hulk may be the domain of the genestealers, which the Officio Assassinorum had warned them about. After twelve hours of searching the massive space hulk, Icarius noticed something gruesome. A dead body of an Officio assassin, slashed and mangled beyond recognition. Before he could give the word to retreat, some fifteen Genestealers appeared and attacked the Astartes. The nine Neophytes and their Sergeant managed to slay eight of them before the Sergeant was killed. Using his potent psyker powers, Icarius managed to slay two of the Genestealers, but was unable to save his Neophytes. Taking his bolter and two melta bombs, the enraged Astartes managed to kill the remaining Genestealers. Realising he was now alone, Icarius retreated back to base, consumed by the Black Rage, but not fully lost to the chapter. Icarius demanded of his comrades his Terminator armour, and a squad of the chapters Wild Men. Not much is known of what happened, next, except that Icarius returned to the space hulk. After two days of silence, his brothers sent an investigation force to the space hulk. Shortly after teleporting in, the terminators found the corpses of Icarius and his Wild Men, dead, amid heaps of Genestealer corpses. The Genestealer Broodlord lay dead on the ground, in front of Icarius, his hands still clasping his bolter. Icarius and the rest of the Wild Men's hearts were taken, and are now considered holy Relics among the chapter, said to bring luck and skill of untold power. Icarius was forever immortalized as the "Genestealer's Bane."

The Hegemon and Polemarch of the Sanguine Shields, Aleksander the Magnificent

Javarian - Eternal Wall: Javarian is a legendary champion of the Sanguine shields. During his first mission as a full fledged Marine, his squad was ambushed by a company of the Angels Apostate. Javarian, following his leaders orders, retreated into a village thought to be abandoned. When the Marines discovered a group of civilians hiding in fear of the Angels Apostate, Javarian set his mind to defending them. He asked his Sergeant to re-group with the rest of the chapter and evacuation the civillians, proclaiming that the Emperor stood with him, and that with His help, no harm would come to the remaining civilians. The sergeant gave Javarian his Power Shield and left under his trust. Javarian spent the next two days fending off Angels Apostate squads with his heavy bolter and two Scutum-pattern Power Shields, both of which he wielded together. The chapter was delayed by the Angels Apostate in coming to relieve Javarian of his duty. When Javarian's Sergeant returned, he witnessed a single Space Marine dodging back and forth, striking and blocking five Angels Apostate simultaneously, yelling" "Witness me! For I am the Emperor's shield against Chaos!" The reinforcements swiftly finished off the remaining Angels Apostate. Javarian, tired from his duty, fell to one knee and mumbled, "all safe, the civilians are all safe. There is nothing more I can do." Upon further inspection, Javarian was discovered to have broken thirty eight bones. The chapter dubbed him the Eternal Wall and he forever became a champion embedded in the history of the Sanguine Shields.

Exion: Remembered to the chapter for a single deed, Brother Exion was made a Battle Brother shortly before the beginning of the Zandalos Campaign, a conflict between the planet's local PDF and a vile greenskin hoard. The greenskins possessed many an armoured vehicle that was matched time and again against those of the Sanguine Shield's. Brother Exion participated in one such battle against an armoured caravan of the greenskins, where the Shields themselves rode high atop of their Rhinos, Predators, and Jet Bikes. True Imperial metal met green flesh in a clash of blood and burning fuel. Exion and his squad rode atop their Rhino through the battle, striking deep into the heart of the hoard. Eventually Exion's squad came face to face with the horde's Warboss atop his personal tank. Though Exion and his brothers fought valiantly, it was all to apparent that they were quickly becoming overwhelmed. Exion knew that he and his brothers would not survive this one-sided battle and in one last desperate bid, tried to engage the Warboss, hoping to cut the head of the beast. Exion took from his brothers every explosive he could find and leaped onto the looted tank with one last warcry, "mártyras mou!" In a great fiery burst, Exion took the tank in an explosion that slew the Warboss and detonated the explosives his brothers had placed around the surrounding Ork vehicles. Exion's squad cheered as they witnessed their brother's sacrifice to slay the breast. Though the battle was considered to be a minor one in the Campaign, Exion was credited with removing a powerful foe that day and is remembered, along with many others, in the chapter's great memorial chamber, where his silver coated skull lies below a parchment that depicts his single, greatest deed.

Hephaestion: A Sanguinary Priest of the Sanguinary Shields chapter of Space Marines, Hephaestion was charged with treason and heresy of the highest order for sequestering an indeterminate amount of the chapter's gene seed for an unknown purpose in the latter half of M37. He was apprehended and returned to his brothers for trial at the courtesy of representatives serving at the behest of Eversor temple of the Officio Assassinatorum. At the time of the hand over, it was reported that brother Hephaestion was in an unresponsive, catatonic state, reportedly from interrogation at the hands of the Eversor Clade. The missing gene seed disappeared without a trace.

Organisation:

• Polemarch (Chapter Master)
• Archontes (Tagma captains)
• Tindanotai (Death Company)
• 9th Tagma (Ranged Warfare)
• 8th Tagma (Infantry Support)
• 7th Tagma (Infantry Support)
• 6th Tagma (Infantry Support)
• 5th Tagma (Infantry Support)
• 4th Tagma (Armoured Assault)
• 3th Tagma (Armoured Assault)
• 2nd Tagma (Armoured Assault)
• 1st Tagma (Armoured Assault)

Rank Structure:

• Polemarch: The Chapter Master of the Sanguine Shields.
• Navarchos: The commander of the chapter's naval forces.
• Konostaulos: The chapter liaison to the Aleksandrian PDF.
• Archon: The commander of a tagmata of four hundred marines.
• Kentarchos: The commander of a tourma of one hundred marines.
• Lochagos: The commander of a lochos of ten to twenty marines.
• Heitaeros: A member of the chapter Honour Guard, the Companions.
• Phalanges: A veteran Marine. Typically commands a tactical squad.
• Thorakites: A Devastator Marine. Equipped with anti-tank weapons.
• Hypaspist: A Tactical Marine. Experienced and extremely deadly.
• Peltast A Neophyte or Scout. Lightly armed but highly motivated.
• Athanatos: A Dreadnought Marine. A hero of the Sanguine Shields.
• Tindanotes: A Marine afflicted with the Red Thirst or Black Rage.

Chapter Fleet:

• Kleisoura
• Battle Barge
• Strike Cruisers
• Gladius Frigates

Gallery

• 

  A Hypaspist leading an armored assault

• 

  A standard Hypaspist