Sammael
Sammael is the Grand Master of the Ravenwing of the Dark Angels Chapter of Space Marines. And he is the most badass of all the special characters you see below. Why? Because he rides a motherfucking jetbike. He also has hair.
Bitch.
Or he can ride a pimped-out Land Speeder, which is cool too, I guess. But, I mean, come on. JETBIKE.
History
While Sammael's early history is not known, his recorded history begins as a member of one of the Assault Squads of the chapter's 8th company where he was noted for always volunteering for the most hazardous duties and spending every moment not in combat training for more combat. In fact during those early times he maintained a rivalry with Belial who was the only warrior he could not best in the training pits.
Due to his talent for quick thinking and insight, Sammael very quickly earned the rank of brother sergeant within only five years of becoming a full battle-brother. Here, despite always obeying his orders, he managed to find his way to the forefront of combat and position himself exactly where his squad was needed.
This fact was noticed by his superiors and he was inducted into the Ravenwing as the youngest member of its history. Though this required a demotion back to battle brother as he was not a veteran sergeant at this point. However, his friendly demeanour meant he was quickly taken on by his squad as a good luck charm and was well liked by those who knew him in the chapter. His return to the rank of sergeant occurred quickly and this status as a rising star was not begrudged by his brothers.
It was on the world of Kaphon Betis where sergeant Sammael encountered the name Cypher, though he did not meet him directly; Sammael did capture several prisoners who knew of him. When bringing his questions to his Captain, Sammael was quietly and unofficially inducted into the Inner Circle and made privy to the truths about the chapter, later becoming inducted into the Black Knights.
After several years of following as his Captain's right-hand, they faced Word Bearers upon the world of Kapua, where his captain was wounded by fire from a Chaos Reaver Titan. Crawling together through the rubble, when Sammael asked what the orders should be, he instead received the Raven Sword and was told to decide for himself... then the captain died.
Quickly, Sammael performed an impressive feat of strategy and managed to confuse the titan with a three-pronged assault while his own squad drove through its legs and deposited melta bombs. With the titan out of commission, Sammael led the company as a guerilla force for seven weeks until the Deathwing arrived to reinforce them.
Sammael's field promotion to Captain was later endorsed by the masters of the chapter and he has led the Ravenwing ever since.
One of his first actions as master of the Ravenwing was to deploy in the Fourth Quardrant Rebellions in 780.M41, where he assaulted the Fortress of Kaligar and duelled the Fallen Angel for a day and night before capturing him.
- It is interesting to note how Azrael, Belial and Sammael are all peers of one another, though their paths intersect at different stages. Sammael's battlefield promotion to Captain of the Ravenwing during the action on Kapua happened over one hundred and sixty years before Azrael's relatively recent ascension to Chapter Master in 939.M41, but since Sammael and Belial knew each other as lowly initiates. Therefore despite all three having supposedly meteoric rises through their chapter, Sammael's was clearly the fastest while Belial must have spent around 140 years as a sergeant waiting for Azrael to move.
Tabletop
If you take him on the jetbike he's the only Dark Angels special character with an AP2 melee weapon (if you don't count Belial with a Hammer) plus he's got T5 & Eternal Warrior, so he's not very scared of the instant kill-kitted opponents like fist-sergeants and the like. Yes he only has power armour, but giving him all that and a 2+ save would probably unbalance the game and make him an auto-take. (which Dark Angels generally don't have - Thank Vetock) Furthermore he also has a 3+ rerollable jink save because of skilled rider and ravenwing. Also, he gets a twin-linked storm bolter and a plasma cannon... just because, like so many other special characters get heavy/blast weapons of the AP2 variety!
In his Land Speeder, it's got the front and side armour of a Land Raider, plus his Iron/Night Halo carries over, therefore ignoring 50% of damage inflicted on it (when things can inflict damage that is!) He's got the twin-linked Heavy Bolters and Twin-Linked Assault cannons too, so lots of highly accurate BS5 re-rollable Dakka. Just be wary of his rear armour and the fact he has only two hull points and you can't squadron him.
8th Edition
Gone is his amazing AV14/14/10 on Sableclaw, it's now a Land Speeder with T6 W7. And Jink across the board has been... well not nerfed, it's a 4+ invuln so it can't be stripped away by Ignores Cover, but Ravenwing don't get to reroll it. Sammael's Iron Halo in particular literally invalidates it. But besides that first impressions are good, with 6 wounds on Corvex and 7 on Sableclaw, vicious movement stats of 14" on Corvex and 16" in Sableclaw, and a Raven Sword that has S:x2 on the charge and S:+1 AP:-3 D:2 regardless. With WS:2+ and A:5, that's nothing to scoff at. And he has the same Grand Master buffs as his bro Belial: Dark Angels within 6 inches reroll failed to-hits of 1, or all failed to-hits if they're Ravenwing Dark Angels. His Plasma Cannon is now Heavy D3 with the Supercharge option, so he needn't hurt himself with plasma any more, but the real damage comes from Sableclaw: sporting a Heavy 12 Assault Cannon and a Heavy 6 Heavy Bolter.
Gallery
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The only thing that can compare to Moondrakken.
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No dickbikes here.
