Chapter: Ice Dragons
The Ice Dragons are a sucessor Chapter of the Black Templars, as such they follow their rules (Vows, fallback-forward, etc) with the following army list.
Current Master: Savarius
Homeworld: Titanicus
Special Chapter Rules:
Lost gear: the ships carrying all of the tanks and bikes were lost in the great storm, surviving only the troop transports (including a few Land Raiders) and the Dreadnoughts. During the beginning Time of Exile, before Larmius’ factories were rebuilt, the Ice Dragons devised effective tactics to overcome this. For that reason, the only vehicles that a player may use are Dreadnoughts, Rhinos, Razorbacks, Tornados, Typhoons and Land Raiders. No other tanks, regular Land Speeders or bikes.
Cost & Stats: cost is same as veteran marines; stats as standard marines with 2 attacks each
Composition: between 4 and 10, plus Penal Officer (veteran sergeant).
Penal Officer may take items from wargear; if Terminator armour is chosen, then weapons are 2 Stormbolters (count as one, twinlinked) and looses powerfist. No other weapons may be chosen
Weapons: 2 pistols of the same kind (count as twin-linked and assault 2); up to 2 marines may use 2 plasma pistol instead (+12 points per marine); may have frag and krak grenades at usual cost;
Special Rules:
Must allways move towards firing range right from the start; if there's a choice between cover and getting into range, they'll choose to get into range(these marines are desperate to clean their honour in combat);
When taking leadership tests due to shooting casualties or HtH results, may reroll 1D6 (their are so desperate in their fighting that they don’t really see their comrades falling...)
If any SM Desperado model leaves the battlefield due to failed leadership tests, he is executed (it counts 2x for victory points);
The Ice Dragons base their entire battle philosophy on assault troops heavily supported by as much firepower as possible. Because of this, few fast units are used by the Chapter.
Wyvern Squad (so called in honour of the smaller but equally fierce high-flying dragons of Titanicus)
LandSpeeder Typhoon: same as per Black Templars
LandSpeeder Tornado: same as per Black Templars
Brief history of the Ice Dragons
During the confusion and chaos after the Heresy, several units of loyal forces were dispatched to stop an uprising of a planet cluster that had turned to Chaos. During the flight, these units, a combined IG and Space Marine force (mostly Black Templars), with 24 ships, was caught by a Warp storm and thrown off course, into the distant Stavernidar system. Upon arrival, the commanding officer, Captain Litarius, found out that only a third of his troops, as well as a mere 10 ships, had survived the storm. Worse, all the warp systems were damaged to a greater or lesser degree, and the few remaining Tech priests soon realised that no repairs were possible.
While debating it’s options, the fleet received a distress call. It seemed that other forces of the Imperium were in the system! Charging forward, the fleet found the remnants of a transport fleet of IG and civilians over the third planet, Larmius, once a thriving forgeworld and Adeptus Mechanicus Temple, fighting for it’s life against an Ork squadron. Taking the Orks by surprise, the fleet was able to crush them. However, on the ground, the survivors of 8 Imperial Guard regiments were fighting a large Ork Waaagh.
Captain Litarius didn’t waste time. He knew that, without working warp systems (for the ships in orbit had also been disabled), securing a liveable world was of vital importance. First, all the remaining Terminators were pod-dropped into the Ork’s rearguard, along with sniper teams. Then, once these Marines had carved a landing zone behind the alien scum, Captain Litarius began a massive air assault of both Marines and IG. Every craft that could fly into an atmosphere was used: Thunderhawks, cargo barges, VIP shuttles. In record time, 4000 Imperial and Marine troops with 60 tanks had been placed in the Ork’s rearguard.
After 10 days of savage fighting, it was all over. Not a single green-skin was left on the planet.
The Imperial troops settled down to colonise the planet, alongside with the civilians. Litarius preferred to retire with his troops to the 4th planet, Titanicus, a world of ice and giant beasts. There, it was decided to form a new chapter, for Litarius knew that, without connection to their homeworlds, the SM’s geeneseed would inevitably change. The Warp Storm had already started changes, for some marines showed newly acquired psychic powers (hence the Librarians). The fact that there were amongst his forces marines from various forces (although mostly Templars) increased the possibility of mutations. It would be best, therefore, to monitor the changes separately and hope for the best. Settling down on a mountain range, the new Chapter took the name given to the largest of the local flying carnivores: the Ice Dragons. There, using the resources from the slowly rebuilt Larmius, they became the guardians of the area, defending it alone all manner of aliens for 700 years, a period of time called The Time of Exile, due to their separation from the Imperium.
When the area was rediscovered after 700 years, it boasted 3 colonized planets and 5 ocupied moons, with a total population of 25 billion. The Ice Dragons had grown to close to 1500, cadets included. the new Chapter was submitted to a rigours, 50-year long evaluation by the Inquisition and by the Chapter from which they descended, the Black Templars. Finally, their founding was approved and the Ice Dragons officially joined the roll of Mankind’s guardians.