The Dark Angels refer to themselves and their Successor Chapters as the Unforgiven. Their first two companies are elite forces known as the Deathwing and the Ravenwing. Although unknown to most of the Imperium, including the majority of the Chapter, some of the Dark Angels turned to the service of Chaos during the Horus Heresy. These individuals are known as the Fallen Angels and the Dark Angels and the Unforgiven have vowed never to rest until all of the Fallen have repented or been killed in the Emperor's name.

Timeaon Deliverance (940.M41) - The Iron Snakes are ambushed during the Timeaon Planetstrike by Tau Battlesuits and saved from certain death only when the Legion of the Damned appear and launch a devastating assault on the aliens' flanks. Apocrypha of Davio (Unknown Date.M33) - A great and holy document attempts to list all of the Chapters of the Second Founding. It is a worthy work, but remains incomplete. Jorun Retaliation (143.M41) - The Drukhari Kabal of the Crimson Libation incite the wrath of the Ultramarines, Howling Griffons and Sons of Orar. The Dark Eldar are defeated, but not before the Howling Griffons' Chaplain, Armand Titus, succumbs to xenos poison and is interred within a Dreadnought. Young aspirants would undergo trials of suitability before they were accepted, and only those of the very sternest character would be chosen. Recruiting methods vary from Chapter to Chapter. Some select their neophytes from feral tribes roaming the surface of inhospitable worlds, while others draw upon eager volunteers who have been groomed from birth to become an Astartes.War in the Gildar Rift (998.M41) - The Silver Skulls destroy a Red Corsair strike force. The surviving Renegades make planetfall on several worlds in the Gildar System, but the Silver Skulls will not be thwarted and the taint of the Renegades is cleansed in a matter of weeks. Returning to the fold with the same Enhancements, Stratagems, and Combat Doctrines Detachment ability you know and love, the Gladius Task Force remains an adaptable, take-all-comers army which supports any kind of unit. The Armour of Contempt Stratagem is now found across all seven Space Marine Detachments – it’s the Space Marines signature. Such accelerated gene-seed techniques, along with absent, inadequate or over-forceful psycho-indoctrination techniques, were later found to have unseen fundamental flaws. The first Space Marines of the nascent Imperium were also the creation of that era, each made using the genetic inheritance of one of the primarchs, albeit diluted a hundred times, for no merely Human body could contain such power.

As the Great Crusade continued the expansion of the nascent Imperium into the galaxy, the discovery of the primarchs and their newly adopted homeworlds helped to stem an impending crisis that was not widely known of at the time outside of the exalted ranks of the Imperium's ruling War Council. Second War for Armageddon Begins (941.M41) - When the Ork Warlord Ghazghkull Thraka unleashes a massive Ork WAAAGH! on the strategic Hive World of Armageddon in the Segmentum Solar, many Space Marine Chapters participate in its defence during what becomes known as the Second War for Armageddon. The followers of the Ruinous Powers were defeated, but it was victory won at a terrible cost. The brotherhood of the primarchs was sundered, and the Emperor's vision for the Imperium and all of Mankind lay in ruins -- the last, best hope of a new golden age for Humanity lost forever.

The Triumph of Ullanor following the Ullanor Crusade; several primarchs attended the appointment of Horus as the first Imperial Warmaster. Horus Heresy (ca. 005-014.M31) - The Imperium is torn apart by the Horus Heresy, the great interstellar civil war fought between the Loyalist and Traitor Space Marine Legions. The rebel Warmaster Horus, despite pledging himself and his followers to the service of Chaos is defeated in single combat aboard his flagship Vengeful Spirit by the Emperor of Mankind at the conclusion of the Siege of Terra. Though Horus is slain, the Emperor is mortally wounded and must be placed within the arcane mechanisms of the device known as the Golden Throne. No longer able to interact directly on a day-to-day basis with Mankind, the Imperium is reorganised and reformed under the direction of the Primarch Roboute Guilliman as the Lord Commander of the Imperium and the other great lords of the Senatorum Imperialis. Despite such tragedies, the Space Marines fought with righteous zeal and it was they who first referred to their mission as a "Crusade." By their efforts, for the first time in unrecorded millennia, the Earth was united under the rule of one man. There are approximately 1,000 Space Marine Chapters active in the Imperium of Man at any one time. Since the opening of the Great Rift in the Era Indomitus, these Chapters have been comprised of a mixture of traditional Firstborn Space Marines and the even more enhanced Primaris Space Marines, or may contain only Primaris Marines.

By taking direct control of these genetic tithes, the Adeptus Terra could ultimately control the Space Marines. They alone had the power to destroy or create Space Marine armies at will. But in truth, the victories of the early Space Marines created a new problem within the Imperial fold. The Emperor had been right to be worried about His earlier creations, the Thunder Warriors. When Dorn and his warriors finally fought their way into the rebel Warmaster's sanctum, they found the Emperor's broken and ruined body, and it is said that their cries of woe were heard far below on Terra itself. Great Scouring (ca. 014-021.M31) - The Loyalist Space Marine Legions, in the course of their separation and the Imperial Army succeed in driving the Traitor Legions from their remaining holdings in the galaxy, and force them to flee into the eternal Warp rift known as the Eye of Terror in the Segmentum Obscurus. The remaining nine Loyalist Space Marine Legions are subjected to the Second Founding and the organisational dictates of the Codex Astartes, resulting in the creation of approximately 1,000 individual Space Marine Chapters. The Imperial Army is divided into the separate services of the Astra Militarum ( Imperial Guard) and the Imperial Navy. The newborn Astra Militarum replaces the Legiones Astartes as the primary front-line ground forces of the Imperium, with the Adeptus Astartes reserved for more specialist roles such as planetstrikes and special operations. The remaining Detachments can be used by Space Marines of any Chapter, but play into traits commonly associated with the six First Founding Chapters who most closely follow the Codex Astartes. So if you want to mount a heavy static defence in the mode of the Imperial Fists, you are not obliged to paint your troops yellow. Even Carcharodons have to dig in sometimes!The primarchs wielded powers the like of which are not known in the Imperium today, yet they were lost to the Warp in an accident deep within the Emperor's gene-laboratories beneath the fortress that would become the Imperial Palace. They were were scattered, still in their gestation capsules, through the Immaterium to worlds across the galaxy by the will of the Dark Gods of Chaos. Most of the old Legions were divided into fewer than five Chapters, but the Ultramarines, being by far the largest of the Legions, were divided many times. Games Workshop has previewedseveral Warhammer 40k 10th edition Space Marine datasheetsand snippets. Paint up a couplemore neat, shiny frontline Intercessor squads to open upnewtactical options, and more pinpoint Bolt Rifle shots per turn – and it won’t be long before you’re lost in Roboute Guilliman‘s dreamy eyes and painting up the Primarch himself, to slather your forces in powerful aura buffs. The galactic empire for Humanity the Emperor had forged was all but destroyed, and it was to take many more standard years of brutal warfare during the Great Scouring before all the Traitor forces were defeated and driven into the hellish chaos of the Eye of Terror.

Assault doctrine extends your melee threat range, which could be a core gameplan for a melee-focused army, or a useful tool for balanced lists to claim objectives. The Devastator doctrine project the threat from your guns further, or allows you to claim objectives and still fire effectively with all your weaponry. Tactical Doctrine is a great defensive tool against melee-focused enemies,ora way to maintain momentum if your own assault gets bogged downby a tough enemy. These are complete, self-contained armies you can use in the variant Combat Patrol game mode, which is a great way to get started with the game as it has very slightly simplified rules. What with his golden halo, Guilliman is just too obvious a target tobenefit from the Leader ability which would allow him to hide inside a unit. However, the ‘Ultramarines Bodyguard’ ability means he benefits from the Lone Operative ability while within 3″ of a Space Marine infantry unit, meaning enemies can’t target him until they’re within 12″. Vanguard Space Marineswear a modified version of the standard Primaris Mark X power armor, designated ‘Phobos’ pattern, whichdoes not alter theirin-gamedefensive stats, but does make them eligible for certain stratagems and psychic powers. Willwe get female Space Marines eventually? Hopefully; it would add some much-needed variety and representation in Warhammer’s most famous faction.Space Marine Chapters For a listing of all notable Space Marine Chapters in the Imperium of Man, please see List of Space Marine Chapters.