Wargames Wasteland: Space Marines (Warhammer 40,000)

Space Marines: Stormcrow Chapter

The Stormcrow. The bird that flies before the storm, the harbinger of the impending wrath of nature. A bringer of woe and bad tidings.

If you see the Stormcrow, trouble is coming.

The same is true for the Stormcrow Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes.

A Third Founding chapter with their roots in the Raven Guard, Stormcrow were based on the rim world of Ionomy. The chapter was shattered almost beyond rebuilding. Deployed in almost their entire strength to harry an Eldar Craftworld, they were nearly entirely annihilated several thousand years ago when a reaving Eldar force arrived, unaware of the Imperial attack that was readying to overrun the Craftworld. The unexpectedly reinforced Eldar overwhelmed the attacking Marines, slaughtering most of them.

The Chapter Master and around a hundred of his brethren survived. Drifting in space, they became scavengers, flitting from wreck-to-wreck, rescuing survivors, harvesting Gene-seed and scavenging parts with which to attempt to rebuild operable starships. And war machines.

Meanwhile, Ionomy, their homeworld - defended only by a handful of Astartes and the planetary defence force - was overrun and occupied by an attack by Chaos Marines. Ionomy, irrevocably lost, was eventually cleansed by Exterminatus, but the remnants of Stormcrow were left without a Chapter homeworld and monastery.

Ironically, Stormcrow now use the expanding remnants of their fleet as a mobile base for their chapter, in ragged parody of the Eldar Craftworld that destroyed them. Housed on a few Capital ships, carriers, cargo ships and shuttles, they now travel through space, calling at Imperial Compliant worlds to resupply and pick up recruits.

These itinerant Marines are working to rebuild the reputation that was sorely damaged by their defeat. They bear a healthy loathing for all xenoforms, but there is a special hatred for Eldar that is almost burnt into their Gene-seed.

I dug out my Marines for a bit of a brush up - some decals, weathering and basing to take them up a notch.

Along the way I added a Stormraven Gunship and photographed them for presentation on the blog.

So here they are - the Stormcrow Chapter of the Imperial Marines/Adeptus Astartes.

You will no doubt notice that they are shown with Raven Guard decals - I had intended to embellish them with a lightning bolt but I chickened out after a few failed experiments.