The strike team are formed of 10 members, hand picked by the Veteran Sergeant, known as brother champion Lorenso, from the various members of the 3rd company that have impressed brother champion Lorenso over the last century or so. While brother champion Lorenso exhibits many of the traits of the chapter, he is also an exceptional leader and is considered by many to be a possible future companies Lord commander or even the chapters Grand High Lord Commander. The force has been tasked with providing one of the primary assault units, to act as a spear tip to the overall company, within which there role is to infiltrate and eliminate key targets and personal. Taking inspiration from Lorenso's aggressive nature, the team, once set on a mission, are constantly pushing forward, ready to adapt to any situation but always attacking.
A quick note here. All the information on the team was randomly generated, everything from the mission and background to the names and demeanor. I try and change as little as possible for anything, however, I do allow for bad rolls, such as with this team, when the background first came up as "fire support". Well for a team with only two guns capable of firing past 12 inches, fire support was going to be a little useless, so I rerolled the dice and they became infiltration specialists, which was a much better roll. I also had to change one of the names of the Marines as otherwise I would had had two Marines with the same name, which I thought was a bit odd, and I don't mean just first or last names the same, I mean both names would have been the same.
Anyway, with that bit of housekeeping out the way, let's move on to the individual Marines.
Vanguard vets
First up we have the Vanguard Vets or as there known in the chapter, the Hawk Brethren. From left to right we have Sergeant Erasmus Arteros, Brother Leonid Raneil and Brother Donatelus Moriar.
Sgt Arteros is a ferocious warrior, who is always at the forefront of any fight, wielding his power fist with precision and power. Arteros is usually flanked by either Raneil or Moriar. Raneil jumps in to battle carring his power axe and pistol ready to smash the skulls of any enemies of the imperium, especially xeno's skull for whom he reserves a special hatred for. Moriar on the other hand is a very dour warrior. Conscious of the black rage and that become of those that fall, Moriar has trained both his mind and body to remove feeling and emotions from his action, so he goes about his work in an almost machine like fashion.
In game terms, I spent a lot of time going back and forth about who to make the vanguard Sergeant. I did initial think of Raneil and make the axe a relic blade (yes I know that they are usually swords, but it's just "blade" not "sword blade" so axe blade counts). This would have upped the AP and strength, but does sort of remove the need for a fist. In the end I went for the Sgt on Arteros with his fist, as I wasn't planning on using any of these as leaders, and making him a combat specialist means that he'll have 4 attacks (3 base plus 1 for combat) to off set the -1 for the fist plus with the Blood Angels trait he'll be wounding everything on 2's (2x S4 making him S8, +1 to wound for BA trait, meaning even Nurgle T5 Marines are wounded 2's). The other two will be Zealot specialists for the +1 strength and attacks, making the axe S6 and claws S5, meaning they will cut through pretty much anything (but Nurgle Marines).
Company vets
The company vets of the 3rd company, known as serpentia, part of the serpent squads. On the left is Brother Furian Amuto, with Brother Champion Faustian Lorenso and Brother Amareus Raneil.
Brother Amuto is a very grim faced Sombre marine, who take his duty very seriously indeed. Amuto is veteran of many centuries and he finds little pleasure in his task these days. Brother champion Lorenso is the overall commander of the force and exhibits many of the traits associated with those of the "blood". He is aggressive, blood thirstly and on occasion can get lost to the fires of battle. While he has heard the call of the black rage many times, he has as yet resisted it's urges. As well as these traits, he is also very wise and experienced, who's knowledge of battle is second to none within the force. Brother Raneil, Amareus Raneil, as opposed to Leonid Raneil from the Brethren, is altogether a different character, quiet, unassuming and mysterious. Little is known about him by his brothers but it is known that Lorenso trusts and often takes council from Raneil when difficult or troubling situations occur and as such he is trusted by the others.
In the game, Amuto and Raneil are going to be kept as non-specialists, to fill out the roster. Lorenso on the other hand will be the teams leader specialist, the only leader and will appear in every list, as it should be.
Marines and sternguard
The next selection are the "shoot" Marines, the tactical and sternguard.
Marines
There are several tactical Marines that have been chosen to accompany the companies veterans. Brother Morlaeo Moriar and Brother Rafael Amuto
Brother Morlaeo Moriar is a very dour warrior, Stern and grim faced, a man who takes little pleasure in his work. Carrying his flamer however, he is a solid reliable warrior, willing to stand his ground against any foes. Brother Rafael Amuto on the other hand is an Ebullient character. The youngest of the force, he still rejoices in the Emperor's work and is always Keen to impress his elders with his ability and zeal. Amuto was chosen, not for his combat prowess but for his technical know how and is relied upon as the main vox communication from the squad to the rest of the company.
There are two tactical Marines, one Gunner, Moriar and one standard, Amuto. The Gunner is armed with a flamer for some close up support, horde thinning and counter charge. He will not be getting a specialism as I don't really have enough space to give him one but also because his main job will be protecting the leader from charges or taking on hordes and so he can get away without needing a specialism. Amuto on the other had will be a comms specialist. Now you might question why I need a comms specialist when I don't have any shooting, well up next is a sternguard with special issue bolter and it's because of him that I need a comms. I've only one long range shot for sniping the enemy leaders and specialist, so I really need to make sure I can do something with it, hence the comms. I will be doing some additional modelling to this character to emphasise the comms element of the model.
Marine Sgt and sternguard
Brother Sergeant Leonid Lorenso was brought along due to his training with Sanguinary Priests and so acts as the squads Apothecary. A charismatic character, Lorenso is just the marine you need at your side when your wounded. Able to not only heal the body, his force of will and strength of character have been know to motivate even the most grievously wounded Marine to continue fighting on. He will often be found at the front of any battle treating the wounded, right under the noses of the enemy. Vulture Legionnaire Decanus Nicodemus Redolpho, or Sternguard Sergeant Nicodemus Redolpho, is not quite so charismatic. A serious and stern and some what dour man, he is nonetheless an excellent shot. Armed with his special issue boltgun, he was recruited to the team for his ability to eliminated targets at range, in even the most cluttered of environments. He is also armed with a power fist, although he generally uses this for punching holes in walls (to shoot through) and less for fighting, preferring to keep at arms length from his quarry.
There is a good reason for having a tactical Sergeant as a medic specialist, it's the only profile that fits the model I had. I could have built a new model, but the Sanguinary novitiate model is ready painted. As he's carrying a chain sword it limits the number of options a lot, down to tactical Sergeant and .......... Yeah, that's it really, so Tac Sgt it is. Medics aren't great but they do have a few tricks that can be useful, such as the level 1 tactic which adds an inch to charges and an extra attack to a model. For a combat oriented force, it could prove to be useful. The last model in the force is the Sternguard. This was included for one simple reason, to add some long range shooting to the force. With the 30 inch bolter there is nothing that can't be hit, if it can be seen plus the -2ap is pretty handy. The Sternguard will also be a sniper specialist for the re-rolls and with the tactic and the comms specialist, an obscured target at long range should be hitting on 3's, at close range, it'll be 2's, wounding might be a bit of a problem but even Marines are saving on 5's. The power fist on the model is there just because really, it's probably not going to get used much, but if something does get withing punching range, there's a good chance it's going to get splattered.
And that's it, that's the Eagle Knights strike team, now all I need to do is get that Sternguard painted up!
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