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[Dark Talon]Dark Talon special units

10K views 67 replies 22 participants last post by  Alsojames 
#1 ·
While people are hopefully creating some nice characters for the Dark Talons, I thought it would be good to open up this thread for you to give your suggestions for specialised units for the Dark Talon codex or even just slightly altered current model rules. Try to keep all suggestions helpful and on topic, and also inkeeping with the Dark Talons. We also need to think about what sort of units they would be using (e.g-unlikely to have Obliterators as they are a new warbnd with little to offer the Obliterators, May still have some Landspeeders,etc..)

I will try to come up with a few ideas myself, and I will try to stay on top of what is going on in here, offer advice on other peoples ideas etc...I realise that there was another thread like this already but it has become very cluttered over time, so I felt a new one would be needed. This is the next section to be sorted out after the Characters have been voted on.
 
#40 ·
Basically I think we have a good unit list now. It is a reasonable sizre and I can't help but notice that the newer homebrew units seem to be more questionable fluff wise. Because of this the list two posts above here can be considered the finalised list. The only two units that now need finalising before play tests are the Ravangers (imntdead please give them a wider range of weapons, and the Talon Guard (thomas2 I think it was the loyalist rule that needed to be weakened)

Once that is done the unit list can be ready for play tests, so Thomas2 nd iimntdead please can you sort out the units. My next post will be either Thursday or friday next week. Good luck.
 
#44 ·
Ok so no ones responded or posted lately on this so I thought I would post some notes concerning the organization of the Dark Talons

First I will quote from the sticky "History of the Dark Talons"

- Organization -
The war band of the Dark Talons currently numbers approximately four hundred marines and due to its comparatively small nature to other forces in the area the Dark Talons generally fights as a whole (the Blood Pact alone is estimated at ¾ of a million strong). Their numbers are however slowly growing due to the ‘helpful’ interest of Fabius Bile; drawn possibly due to the strange mixed nature of the salvaged gene-seed of the Renegade Chapter (see further addendum).
The Chapter is ruled over by Master Retrave and Reclusiarch Tanthus and “Kilm Vanshal” (a former Chaplain of the Chapter, now possessed by a Daemon of an unknown name and allegiance). Other than the top three leaders who have two lieutenants acting as their aids there is very little in the way of a structured hierarchy between the council and squad level. In addition the title of lieutenant is purely honorific as the position gives very little in the way of extra power that an aspiring champion doesn’t already have.

Based off this I have gathered some notes and thought up how I think the organized structure of the Dark Talons would be.

My Notes
With about 400 Dark Talons and climbing I figure that with these small numbers the Dark Talons structure might look something like this.

HIERARCHY - The commanders of the Dark Talons are probably about 10-20 with Master Retrave and Kilm Vanshal being the only chaos lords and Reclusiarch Tanthus would be the Dark Talons most powerful Sorcerer. The rest would be lieutenants and some lower ranked aspiring sorcerers of some kind and then the command squads would be handpicked from the rest the Dark Talons.

Master Retrave - Master and Commander of the Dark Talons, his word is law.

Reclusiarch Tanthus - Sorcerer- The title reclusiarch is recognized from the ranks of the Adeptus Astartes; but as a chaplain. The definition of Reclusiarch is someone who makes all efforts possible to remain alone or with minimal companionship. Now that doesn’t sound like a chaplain at all; but it is perfect for a sorcerer most sorcerers prefer to be alone and learn the secrets of the universe so why not. And in the current Space Marine codex the rank reclusiarch doesn’t even exist anymore.

Kilm Vanshal - Chaos Tactician, former chaplain who is possessed by a daemonic entity with an unknown name. Vanshal appears to have no particular allegiance to any of the four chaos gods.
-Lieutenants-Powerful fighters in their own right and have earned their respected positions within the Dark Talons.

Armendeculus - the Swordsman-Was personally trained by the Val Gaur and is known as Arm for short. Arm would be the highest ranking of the lieutenants he even only has two wounds to show for it.

For some of the Dark Talons lieutenants and sorcerers I took characters from the character polls and gave them positions that were somewhat relative to their creators fluff or I was just trying to fulfill certain positions.

Torturer Issatroth-Trained by Fabius Bile in genetics, Issatroth is responsible for maintaining the multiple gene-seeds that makes up the Dark Talons. Issatroth is also responsible for developing the many implants that are developed for creating space marines. On his own time Issatroth experiments on hundreds of many victims with his many theories on gene manipulation.

Lieutenant Gallo–Oversees the violent and dangerous training of the Dark Talons recruits, Gallos Taskmasters were handpicked from the most vicious and unforgiving of the Dark Talons.

Lieutenant Ligarius–Personal aid to Master Retrave, Ligarius knows many secrets from his days with the Inquisition as a member of the Deathwatch.

Lieutenant Dazhain-Personal aid to Master Retrave, Dazhain is Warmaster of the Dark Talons fleet as he commands from the battleship Betrayers Torment.

Lieutenant Yeremos–Personal aid to Reclusiarch Tanthus, Yeremos is an aspiring sorcerer and an apprentice.

Lieutenant Kartherus–Personal aid to Reclusiarch Tanthus, Kartherus researches daemonic icons and talismans, going through stolen records and scriptures, he watches over the library vault.

Lieutenant Hezek–Personal aid to Kilm Vanshal, Hezek was the first to be strongly influenced by Kilm Vanshals and give his complete and utter devotion.

Lieutenant Garius–Personal aid to Kilm Vanshal, Garius was found by Kilm wondering Kabal III after being abandoned by his own battle brethren and was consumed by despair and insanity.

Lieutenant Vorg–Formally of the Iron Hands Vorg is the Dark Talons techmaster he watches over and ensures the Dark Talons armoured might is in top condition.

There would probably be about 7 other Lieutenants/Sorcerers

*VETERANS-There are probably about 80 that would be considered the veterans of the Dark Talons
-Chosen unit comp: 5-10
-Ravagers unit comp: 5-10
-Terminators-Maybe about 1/4 of the Veterans are Terminators, such armour would be rare and so their unit comp is probably 3-5 and may only have one Terminator Champion.

MARINES-Probably about 300 different marines with all squads not being able to field the numbers that other chaos marines can their unit comp are most likely going to be 5-10 marines strong so that the Dark Talons can stay more flexible. Such squads would be the following
-Talon Command Squads
-Marines
-Assault Marines- I went with Assault Squads because Raptors are a cult from the Eye of Terror - One squad may be upgraded with Coloth the BoneCrusher
-Bikers- might be a little rarer; squad size would probably be 3-5 with the option of an attack bike
-Havocs-One squad may be upgraded with Havoc Champion Karm Vestatus
-vehicle crewmen

OTHER- These would be the new marines the Dark Talons would have acquired after going out on their own and starting to recruit again and manipulating the multiple gene-seeds using the teachings of Fabius Bile. So there are probably about 50 of them with most being the Savage Wolves and many probably wouldn’t survive the recruiting process of the Dark Talons.
-Recruits- Probably a unit comp of 5-10 including the TaskMaster
-Savage Wolves- The few space wolves that had joined the Dark Talons had been experimented on by Fabius Bile and their strength was greatly increased. Fabius Bile even introduced their genetic structure into some of the Dark Talons new recruits and many had died. Master Retrave had Bile leave the Dark Talons only sparing his life for the knowledge that was needed for recruitment. The Savage Wolves would be rare and so there might only be one or two squads of 5-10; but Issatroth has the knowledge to make more of them.

The following is taken from the sticky "History of the Dark Talons"
*VEHICLES
It has only been since Kabal III and the Val-Gaur’s betrayal that the Chapter has begun to use vehicles in any great number. This was due to the Dark Talons not having any particular need for them before. While under the Blood Pact command they left all the heavy armor to the Blood Pact Tank Divisions. However now, due to their new autonomy, they have been forced to re-supply through piracy and raiding of the depots and forge worlds of the Imperium.

With this I figure the Dark Talons would do a fast hit and run attack, taking what they can in a hurry.

DREADNOUGHTS– Would be extremely rare most likely the armored shell was stolen or recovered and may have been rebuilt so there would be 1-3 at the most.

VEHICLES - 30-50 including the following
-Rhinos
-Predators
-Vindicators
Land Raiders would more than likely be just a little too rare for the Dark Talons and they don't have the know how to build daemonic war engines like the Defiler so those two units would be out of the question.

ASSAULT CRAFT – Unknown amount I figure about 40 landing ships and lots of drop pods
-Drop Pods-because the Dark Talons have 2 Strike Cruisers
-Thunder Hawks-maybe just a few; but very doubtful
-Stolen Imperial Assault Boats- more than likely

Well I got more notes I can share but there really is no need.
 
#45 · (Edited)
wow Good work Imntdead

Edit: Have some Rep for the hard work
 
#48 ·
As the talon guard are a retinue and therefore a body guard for the lords, could they be called maybe the 'Shadow of Talon' in that they follow and protect the lord strking fear into wherever they go. Or maybe the Court of Talon to represent a lord's own guard.
 
#50 ·
For assault troops - as there are (mostly) recently turned Space Marines maybe the answer is just to convert normal assault marines? Also cheaper and more convertible than raptor models (i have done this for my IW army and it works really well).
 
#57 ·
So if you wanna keep the speed, and reduce combat effectiveness to balance them out a bit more, so reduce initiative and/or strength and/or WS. If they have furious charge they would almost always be attacking first with their speed I think, so A should be fine.

Let's finalise these guys now, and then we can move on from there! :victory:
 
#58 ·
Attempt at hounds

Dark Talon Hounds-12 pnts per model

WS-4
BS-0
S-3
T-3
W-1
I-3
A-1
Ld-8
Sv-5+

Unit/Type-Beast
Number/Squad-5-12
Wargear- Fangs and Claws
Special Rules- Chaos Bloodhound
Fearless

Fangs and Claws- All attacks made by a Dark Talon hound are classed as rending attacks.
Chaos Bloodhound- This unit may move 12" per turn, have the Furious Charge special rule, and are unaffected by the Night Fight special rule.

I lowered the strength and initiative by 1, and increased max squad size by 2, as i figurered they would be a 'pack-like' unit. Decreased points per model to 12, due to their relatively poor WS, S, T, and SV, and a lack of BS.
Their role seems to simple be to close down the enemy quick, soften them up and distract them for the stronger forces to advance unopossed.

Let's work on it!
 
#59 · (Edited)
I an attempt to sort out a codex-worthy list, I will be trying to post the stats for all the custom characters, starting with HQ.

Now as far as I can tell, we only have 3 confirmed unique HQ choices: Master Retrave, Armendeculus and Kilm Vanshall. Flicking through the codex's I have, each army has at least 4 unique HQ choices, and the SM have about 9. Because of this, I figure we should have about another 2 unique HQ choices, I was thinking either one of the leitenants, Reclusiarch Tanthus and/or Torturer Issatroth. This would give anyone who uses them on tabletop (as I plan to) more variety, and would enrich the fluff for the Dark Talons IMO.

I believe this is the final stats for Master Retrave:

Master Retrave- 185 points

WS-6
BS-5
S-4
T-4
W-4
I-5
A-3
Ld-10
Sv-3+

Unit Type - Infantry
Number/squad-1
Wargear-Power Armour
Relic Blade
Bolt Pistol
Frag and Krak Grenades
Special Rules-Fearless
Independent Characters
5+ invulnerable Saves
War Machine
Relic Blade- A painful reminder from his days as part of the Dark Hands, Retrave gains +2 strength from this two handed weapon.
War Machine- In close combat Master Retrave appears as an unstoppable killing machine. He is gifted with the Counter Attack, Feel No Pain and Furious Charge special rules. Also he gains +D3 extra attacks when charging instead of the normal +1.



Final Stats for Kilm Vanshall

Kilm Vanshall - 190 point

WS-7
BS-5
S-4
T-4
W-3
I-5
A-4
Ld-10
Sv-3+

Unit Type-Infantry
Number/Squad-1
Wargear-Power Armour
The Corrupter Crozius
The Spiked Halo
Bolt Pistol
Frag and Krak Grenades
Special Rules-Fearless
Independent Character
5+Invulnerable Save
The Devil Within

The Corrupted Crozius-This weapon is classed as a master-crafted power weapon
The Spiked Rosarius-This is an Imperial Iron Halo that has been twisted by the Dark powers to better suit their whims. It confers a 5+ Invulnerable Save and increases Kilm’s weapon skill by 1(already included in profile).
The Devil Within-Whenever Kilm takes a wound you must take a leadership test. If he fails the test he is consumed by the daemon within him and his strength and toughness increase to five. However his initiative drops to four and he may not use any ranged attacks.


Final Stats for Amandeculus the Swordsman

Amandeculus the Swordsman-170 points

WS-5
BS-4
S-4
T-4
I-6
W-2
A-2
Ld-10
Sv-3+
Unit Type-Infantry
Number/Squad-1
Wargear-Power Armour
Sword of Gorgant
Bolt Pistol
Special Rules-Independent Character
Counter Attack
Sword of Gorgant – This is a master-crafter power sword.
Master Swordsman-Amandeculus is a master swordsman and if he is in close combat he always strikes first and is able to re-roll any failed hit rolls.

Now I feel we should add at least another Unique HQ choice, and if anyone else agrees, I'd like to put forward either one of the lieutenants, torturer Issatroth and reclusiarch Tanthus.
 
#61 ·
Vulkan64: What the hell? Triple posting, in a thread, about Chaos Marines and completely out of context? Seriously, read before you do something like that..
 
#63 · (Edited)
Attempt at some freaky monster

Fast Attack

Description: Two faces resembling porcelain masks (one angry and ferocious looking one; one disturbing and fiendish looking one), in-between faces is a big mouth with a long, barbed tongue. it has an exposed spine that runs along its neck and back until it reaches the base of its tail. its tail is long with another face at the end, it has a calm expression and a mouth that opens and causes a long, poisoned spine to come out for quick jabbing. it has twisted arms with long, fused fingers forming stilt-like appendages for walking, with an additional two where its legs are supposed to be. it has other faces lining down its torso with closed eyes and calm expressions. The creature's favorite meal is human faces, which it will cut off and greedily devour before consuming the rest of the body. The creature makes horrible whispering sounds as it approaches it prey. the angry face whispers of hate, the other of betrayal, and the third of vengeance. When it is not in combat, it will simply emit and alluring song of beauty and grace. however, upon closer inspection, it is in reality a song of murder and torture, of pain and corruption. the creature also sees fear as a sign of weakness, and thus will devour even allies if they try to flee battle. The creature often materializes out of the ground, walls, or even ceilings; appearing as a plain, white porcelain face. when the enemy is near, the face will crack and distort, splitting into sections and growing features until finally the creature writhes out of the surface. This other-world abomination usually appears in areas of vast, concentrated emotion; such as terror or rage.


Chimera - 150 pts

Fast Attack

WS: 5
BS: 3
S: 4
T: 5
W: 4
I: 5
A: 4
Ld: 9
Sv: 4+/5+

Unit type: Beast
Number per squad: 1
Wargear:
-Gaping Maw
-Scorpion's Tail
Special Rules:
-Fearless
-Deep Strike
-Voracious Apetite
-Whispers of Pain
-Horrifying (-1 Ld to models in base contact)

Gaping Maw-
The Chimera's mouth always hungers for human flesh, particularily the faces of mortals. This weapon grants an additional power-fist attack at initiative 1 (roll for other attacks normally).

Scorpion's Tail-
The third face of the Chimera is capable of putting forth a retractable spine, dripping with lethal toxins.
This is a ranged weapon with the following profile:
Range: 6" S: 4 AP: 4 Type: Assault 3; poisoned 4+

Voracious Apetite:
When attempting to assault any vehicle, the Chimera must take an Ld test, if it is failed, the Chimera may not assault that target, as it has no interest in anything without a tasty face for them to eat. in addition, The Chimera must assault any fleeing unit if it is within assault distance. this also grants the furious charge special rule.

Whispers of Pain:
This causes all enemy units within 6" to take a morale check (does not effect models with the fearless special rule). this counts as a ranged weapon.
 
#64 · (Edited)
Sword Masters

Elites

There are those who fondly remember the days of Dark Talon history where the doctrine was a furious assault into close combat. While many simply reminisce during drills or over a drink, some take the memories a bit further. One such man is Bladelord Nahk'Vol Sephaestus.

One of the few members of the Dark Talons who have survived the Two Betrayals. Famed for his "Heartseeker Strike", Sephaestus charges headlong into combat, bringing with him a dozen, sometimes more, of his trainees.

Only those recruits who show an exceptional skill at melee combat are considered for Sephaestus' Sword Masters. He trains each and every prospective member himself, ensuring there is no flaw to their stance or strike. Out of a dozen potential members, only two or three graduate, the rest being sent to a Tactical or Assault regiment.

Being accepted into the Sword Masters is an honor for any Dark Talon, for their mentor is one of the best swordsmen in the legion,

Expert swordsmen under the tutelage of Sephaestus himself, the Sword Masters are a contigent of astartes who's sole purpose in combat is to close the distance and hack their foes apart with their varied weapons.



120 Pts

WS: 5
BS: 4
S: 4
T: 4
I: 5
A: 2
Ld: 8
Sv: 3+

Unit Type: Infantry

Wargear: Power Sword, bolt pistol

Composition: 4 Sword Masters + 1 Champion
May add up to 5 more Sword Masters at +18 pts per model


Special Rules:
Furious Charge

Confident in Combat
Any Swordmaster worth his salt is confident in his ability to outmach his opponent in close-quarters combat. As such, any unit of Swordmasters making a leadership check to determine the results of a combat will add +1 to their result.


Options:

The Sergeant may replace his powerfist with a powerfist at +8pts and/or his bolt pistol with a plasma pistol for +5pts.

One member of the squad may be upgraded with a flamethrower at +3pts.

In addition, Sephaestus himself may choose to lead one squad of Sword Masters in place of a champion. Refer to the profile below.



Nahk'Vol Sephaestus--Bladelord of the Dark Talons

NOTE: Sephaestus replaces the champion of a Swordmasters Squad.

150 points


WS: 7
BS: 4
S: 6
T: 4
I: 5
A: 4
Ld: 10
Sv: 2+/4+


Unit Type: Infantry, Independant Character, Furious charge, Confident in Combat (see above)
Note that Sephaestus may leave a unit as per the Independant Character rules, but must always start the game in a unit of Swordmasters.

Wargear


Assault Bolter
Range: 18"
Strength 4
AP: 5
Type: Assault 2



The Life-Ender
This is Sephaestus' sword, etched in runes of dark magic and used with extreme effectiveness. It ignores armor saves and adds +2 to Sephaestus' strength (included above)


Blademaster
Sephaestus has spend his entire life mastering the blade, learning how to seek out and strike at an enemy's vital point in a fraction of a second. As such, he may re-roll failed wounds in combat.


Heartseeker Strike
Sephaestus often seeks out powerful opponents in combat, such as commanders or Dreadnaughts, striking them down with a powerful strike that can end a life in a milisecond.

In lieu of making his regular attacks, Sephaestus may choose to instead make a single attack against a single model. This model is chosen by the player controlling Sephaestus. Roll to hit and wound as normal, but not taking into account the Blademaster special rule (the attack focuses on finesse, not power!) Should the attack successfully wound, the unfortunate foe has his heart, or heart equivalent cut out by Sephaestus in one fell swoop and is removed as a casualty.

Note that this may be used against vehicels of the walker type. The role to wound is of course rolled against the front armor. Good luck with that!





EDIT: Added Nahk'Vol Sephaestus as a unique unit upgrade.
 
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