Saturday, February 19, 2011

Once More Into the Breach...

Today I’d like to give you a little introduction to my primary Warhammer 40k army, the Void Hounds Space Marine Chapter. 

As one of the newer chapters created from the 25th founding, the Void Hounds have a short, but illustrious career.  Created from a subtle blending of Space Wolves, Ultramarine, and Grey Knight gene seeds, the Void Hounds primary purpose was to act as a watchdog unit for the Grey Knights.  A fleet based chapter, the Hounds mission is to scout the Eastern Fringe of Ultima Segmentum and its many warpstorms for any sign of a Chaos incursion.  As a result, they tend to be very mobile, relying heavily on its 10th company’s scouts to seek out any potential threat and warn the chapter of it. 

Once a threat has been discovered, the Void Hounds wage their version of Entropy-Based Warfare; they strike hard and fast to disrupt their enemy’s capability to wage war.  They destroy lines of communication, supply, and command with surgical drop pod strikes, deep striking 1st company Terminators, and guerilla attacks from the scouts.  Once their mission is accomplished, the hammers that are the battle companies engage the enemy in brutal all-out mechanized assault.  With their opponent’s ability to wage war crippled and their morale shaken, the Void Hounds are able to swiftly smash through their foe’s lines to victory. 
Unfortunately, through their constant patrolling of the eastern fringe, the Void Hounds were one of the first Chapters to encounter the truly alien mind of Tyranid Hive Fleet Behemoth.  The principles of Entropy-Bases Warfare had little effect on a force which can turn the very planet it invades into a veritable supply depot.  With the power of the Hive Mind behind it, Behemoth had no fear of the shock-and-awe tactics the void Hounds had favored for a millennium.  The chapter found itself on the brink of destruction, strategically regrouping deeper towards the galactic core to rebuild and refit.  As a result, the current roster of the chapter has been reduced to fewer than five complete companies.  However, their willingness to recruit across the Segmentum has allowed them to swell the ranks of the scout company to nearly three times the size of most chapters.  The remaining marines are battle hardened veterans.  Much of their armament has been appropriated from near by Chapters and is still undergoing retrofitting and repainting in Void Hounds colors (hence the varied color schemes in some elements of the force). 

The long serving Chapter Master, Anubis, barely survived the Tyranid attack.  Fortunately, the Techmarine armorers were able to inter his body into a Dreadnought sarcophagus.  He is frequently equipped as an Ironclad pattern Dreadnought and is deployed in a drop pod where the fighting is thickest.  Many of his closest advisors were also killed in battle and interred along with him, creating a rather large force of Dreadnoughts eager to avenge their “death”.

Their new Chapter Master, Commander Cerberus, is well known for his soft spoken voice, impressive knowledge ancient Earth literature and cultures, and brutal tactical efficiency.  He is a reluctant leader who prefers to lead by example rather than through fiery oratory.  He takes it upon himself to head where the fighting is thickest. 

Due to the chapter’s close relationship with the Grey Knights and their ongoing mission to fight the forces of Chaos at all costs, the marines of the Void Hounds tend to be more psychically active than most others and employ a larger than average number of Librarians in a command capacity.

The Administratum has recently determined the Void Hounds fit to resume their patrol of the Eastern Fringe.   With an enthusiastic battle cry harkening back to their Space Wolf genetics, the Void Hounds embarked into the depths of Ultima Segmentum armed with the harsh lessons taught by Hive Fleet Behemoth, eternally vigilant for the depredation of Chaos.

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