White Scars Introduction

History

The White Scars Chapter of Space Marines as presented here, may be regarded as a representative example of the Imperium's elite forces. The White Scars have acquired a fearsome reputation, and their name alone will inspire fear amongst the citizens and enemies of the Imperium.

The White Scars Primarch, Jaghatai Khan, was raised on a primitive planet inhabited by tribes of nomadic warriors. His superior physical abilities and strategic genius allowed him to weld together a coalition of tribesmen to fight against the growing power of a Chaos cult that was spreading through the east of the major continent. In the final battle of the Lon-Suen plains, Jaghatai led fifteen thousand horsemen in a gallant charge against the crude gunpowder cannons of the Chaos cultists. Despite horrendous losses the charge smashed the enemy. The fierce Mathuli Tribesmen cut down the cultists as they tried to flee, butchering every last one of them. In the following decade Jaghatai Khan went on to conquer much of the planet, before the Emperor arrived and, eventually, the Primarch was welcomed back into the Imperium. When the White Scars were founded it was the fiercely proud Mathuli that they drew their first recruits.

Like most Chapters, the White Scars are fiercely proud of their heritage and history, and troopers and officers alike wear their badges with honour and distinction. The Chapter has been instrumental in achieving many important victories for the Imperium, not least of which was their part in the destruction of the Tyranid Hive Fleet Behemoth (745.M41). Strangely enough, this remains the the White Scars only action against these foul creatures.

For over two thousand years (from 901.M38) the Chapter was given the task of policing the dreaded Kolarne circle. Comprising a densely packed cluster of systems, Kolarne lies towards the galactic centre and close to the domains of the Ork Warlords. For many years the Chapter not only had to quell the rebellious Kolarnians, but also were engaged in an endless series of wars against the Orks. The Chapter recently finished a counter revolutionary tour of the mining systems of Rad Ox, a small system in the Third Quadrant (988.M41).

Organization

The Chapter is a mobile one. Its headquarters is the vast, Space Barge / Monastery Constantius, and the White Scars' fleet numbers over a hundred craft. The majority of these are fully warp capable and so the Chapter has an unusually high number of Psykers and Navigators attached to it. The Former include a large number of full brethren, although these are used for communications and intelligence, and so are rarely committed to battle. Apart from this, the White Scars are remarkable for their courage and tenacity, but the same could also be said for other Chapters.

The White Scars are famous for launching lightning fast hit-and-run attacks against their enemy, they are the masters of lightning warfare. Unlike other Space Marine forces the White Scars do not have large tank only detachments, preferring to use mixed detachments. The White Scars attack from nowhere, unleash a devastating volley of fire or brief charge into close combat, and then disappear as suddenly as they arrived. White Scars often retreat after close combat or a fire fight, even if they win. This enables them to attack the enemy and then withdraw to safety to avoid an unfavourable assault or fire fight from other enemy forces close by.

One unit which is unique to the White Scars is the Soul Drinkers. This is a special Assault group of which all the members are veteran hand-to-hand combat specialists. The numbers of squads in the group varies but there is at least one available to the commander All of the Soul Drinkers have champion status and are armed with Power Sword and Refractor Fields in addition to their Power Armour. They are drawn from the ranks of normal Companies and represent those Marines who have been particularly successful over the course of previous battles. The Soul Drinkers have full company status but rarely have more than three squads at a time and do not have any higher officers. The Sergeants report directly to the Commander. The Soul Drinkers have their own distinctive shoulder badges and honour banners and it is every White Scar's ambition to be chosen for the unit.

The Chapter has four tactical squads from each of the 4th and 7th companies are deployed as Cobra squads and are equipped with jump packs. The Cobra squads wear appropriate insignia and are often accompanied but Apothecaries equipped with jump packs.

The White Scars Chapter makes extensive use of Land Raiders to carry their most heavily equipped brethren on the guerrilla campaigns favoured by the sons of Jhagatai Khan. One Land Raider, Emperor's Lightning, sank into a vapour swamp whilst fighting on the mist shrouded Deathworld of Radawl. Eighteen years later the White Scars heard from Radawl that the Emperor's Lighting had risen from the swamp, still functional and under the control of its machine sprit. Despite its entombment under thousands of tons of mud, the great vehicle's sprit had remained undaunted, slowly inching its way clear using tiny amounts of reactor power and then resting for anything up to a year before moving again.

Sourced from the following Games Workshop publications:
Rouge Trader Space Marine add on booklet.
White Dwarf 210.
Land Raider poster White Dwarf 246

Back to White Scars page.
Back to Main Page.

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page