What am I doing?

I don't remember how it started - one of my many conversations with David or Dan, I suppose - but the thought arose: How cool would it be to start with a full chapter of marines and then, whenever one died, or got blown up, you weren't allowed to field it again.

Well, as with most of these things, it got discussed, and then forgotten, but following some disillusionment with my Eldar, as well as borrowing a Marine force for a couple of games, the thought came back.

And now I'm doing it. Starting with a single chapter, as defined from the Codex Astartes, I shall play 40K games with the Sons Of Manus and, whenever one dies, or gets blown up, then they shan't be fielded again.

The Rules

The rules are pretty simple - starting from a single Codex list, I pick legal lists, and play games. Any model that is killed, cannot be used again. For all non-vehicles, death means losing their final wound. For vehicles, it is any of the "Destroyed" results.

Any multi-wound characters that lose a wound, but do not die, are considered to be unwounded the next time they are used. Any model that runs away is not dead and can be re-used. Any vehicle damage that is not "Destroyed" (such as immobilised or gun destroyed) is considered to be fixed in between battles.

In addition, bikes and speeders, when destroyed or killed, also lose me the marines that are crewing the speeder/bike. This is only true for bikes and speeders, as all other vehicle crews are figured separately to the main company strength.

When building a list, I am allowing myself to use any Space Marine codex, including any combination of traits, in order to create a legal list. Setting myself just a single set of traits and disadvantages, although more correct to the background, would leave me, I suspect, with armies that I have the models for, but do not fit in a standard force organisation chart.

Starting Size

The starting list is primarily based on the third edition Codex:Space Marines description of the Ultramarines chapter in the back of the book. This lays out the format of the chapter (which is repeated in a number of other places) but also goes into detail about how many vehicles, support staff and so on are in a codex chapter. It is noted particularly that the fourth company is at full battle strength, so I have multiplied this up for the other battle companies and, where appropriate, the reserve companies. So, before anything else happens, I currently have:

Headquarters

1 Chapter Master
1 Chapter Standard Bearer
3 Chaplains
3 Rhinos
2 Land Raiders
5 Razorbacks
5 Epistolary Librarians
23 Codicier Librarians
17 Apothecaries
41 Techmarines (inc. 5 capable of leading an army)

Armoury

14 Predator Destructors
11 Predator Annihilators
8 Vindicators
9 Whirlwinds
14 Rhinos
14 Razorbacks
12 Land Raiders

1st Company

1 Captain
2 Chaplains
1 Apothecary
1 Company Standard Bearer
10 Veteran Sergeants
100 Veteran Marines (all with Terminator armour and Power armour)
4 Dreadnoughts
20 Rhinos
10 Land Raiders

2nd -5th Companies (all the same)

1 Captain
1 Chaplain
1 Apothecary
1 Company Standard Bearer
5 Veteran Sergeants
60 Tactical Marines
20 Assault Marines
20 Devastator Marines
25 Bikes (uncrewed)
5 Attack Bikes (uncrewed)
5 Land Speeders (uncrewed)
5 Land Speeder Tornadoes (uncrewed)
5 Land Speeder Typhoons (uncrewed)
4 Dreadnoughts
15 Rhinos

6th Company

1 Captain
1 Chaplain
1 Apothecary
1 Company Standard Bearer
5 Veteran Sergeants
60 Tactical Marines
20 Assault Marines
20 Devastator Marines
25 Bikes (uncrewed)
5 Attack Bikes (uncrewed)
4 Dreadnoughts
15 Rhinos

7th Company

1 Captain
1 Chaplain
1 Apothecary
1 Company Standard Bearer
5 Veteran Sergeants
60 Tactical Marines
20 Assault Marines
20 Devastator Marines
5 Land Speeders (uncrewed)
5 Land Speeder Tornadoes (uncrewed)
5 Land Speeder Typhoons (uncrewed)
4 Dreadnoughts
15 Rhinos

Eighth Company

1 Captain
1 Chaplain
1 Apothecary
1 Company Standard Bearer
5 Veteran Sergeants
100 Assault Marines
30 Bikes (uncrewed)
10 Attack Bikes (uncrewed)
10 Land Speeders (uncrewed)
5 Land Speeder Tornadoes (uncrewed)
5 Land Speeder Typhoons (uncrewed)
5 Dreadnoughts
15 Rhinos

Ninth Company

1 Captain
1 Chaplain
1 Apothecary
1 Company Standard Bearer
5 Veteran Sergeants
100 Devastator Marines
7 Dreadnoughts
15 Rhinos

Tenth Company

1 Captain
1 Chaplain
1 Apothecary
5 Veteran Sergeants
10 Sergeants
Some scouts

Notes on the list

Some random notes on the list:

• A Predator Annihilator is not a Predator Destructor, and each will be accounted for separately
• All bikes are crewed either by the sixth company (Insignium Astartes) or by Assault Marines, so each time a bike dies, so must either someone from the sixth company, or an Assault Marines
• All Speeders are crewed by the seventh company (Insignium Astartes), so each time a Speeder is destroyed, two people (pilot and gunner) from the seventh company must be removed
• Squads will reform within the chapter, and be reinforced from the reserve companies
• The Land Raiders may be of any variant, and this is undefined, so I will simply count Land Raider hulls. However, once I have started taking (for example), a Crusader, a Crusader that will remain until it gets destroyed
• Veteran Sergeants are in addition to the regular Marines, and regular Sergeants, hence their addition in the lists above
• I have not yet decided what to do about scouts, as there is no Codex Astartes approved number for the scouts in the tenth company
  

Who are the Sons of Manus

Finally, a quick note on the Sons of Manus. As may be deduced from the name, the Sons of Manus are a successor chapter to the Iron Hands chapter, named for the primarch, Ferrus Manus. I chose these as I like the Iron Hands "bionics" models that were released a couple of years ago.