Scout

In Space Marine Chapters that follow the Codex Astartes, Scouts are Space Marines in training. They have not yet gained the Black Carapace, the gene-seed organ that allows a Marine to interface with his power armour. They are usually organized into squads in the Tenth Company, and are the only Marines that regularly wield sniper rifles or use camouflage (although, in some Chapters and the Deathwatch, full Marines do use both). Fittingly, the Raven Guard use a lot of Scouts, since their combat doctrine centers around infiltration and sabotage.

They are led by a Sergeant, who is usually a member of a Tactical Squad that chooses to impart his wisdom to a younger generation, but may also be a Veteran Scout who refused the opportunity to become a full-fledged Space Marine. In the case of the Blood Ravens, they are led by Steve Blum voicing an angsty, ineffectual dork, who he hopes one day to teach all the Blood Ravens to be angsty, ineffectual dorks. His most important lesson is to go out of the way to point out problems and question every solution as if it was the most inexperienced idea you've ever heard.

Also, if you even say the word "boink" within a hundred feet of an Angry Marine Scout with a Power Bat, he will beat you so hard you won't know which end of your sternum you're looking through.

I Can't Believe It's Not A Scout™

• Space Wolves Wolf Scout: Scouts in the Space Wolves are bitter, experienced veterans taken from the Grey Hunters (the Space Wolves equivalent of the Tactical Marines); most of them are introverts that find it hard to fit in with the rest of the (incredibly gregarious) Space Wolves and prefer to operate more-or-less alone. New recruits are put in Blood Claw squads instead.

• Black Templars Neophytes: The Black Templars are too cool to use Scouts. Instead, when an Initiate (the Black Templar equivalent of a Tactical Marine) decides he has learned enough, he takes on a Marine-in-training, referred to as Neophytes, which are then mixed into Crusader squads. This is nominally to pass the experience of an Initiate to a Neophyte, but in reality, the Neophytes just make amazing meatshields.