The Deathwing is the elite 1st Company of the Dark Angels Space Marines Chapter and is also found amongst those Space Marine Chapters who are Successors of the original Dark Angels Space Marine Legion and are collectively known as the Unforgiven.

HistoryEdit

The Veteran warriors of the Dark Angels Chapter serve in the 1st Company, which is known as the Deathwing. The Veteran Astartes of this company are arrayed in Terminator Armour or Power Armour as battlefield requirements dictate. However, the Dark Angels are unusual in that they maintain an entire company that is only ever fielded as Terminator Squads. Following the Horus Heresy, when the Space Marine Legions were divided into Chapters, as dictated in the newly authored Codex Astartes by the Ultramarines Primarch Roboute Guilliman, the Legion's Terminator Armour-equipped Assault Company was divided into several units each composed of 100 Astartes and assigned to a Successor Chapter formed from the original Legion.

When a Dark Angel or other Unforgiven Space Marine receives the coveted promotion to the Deathwing Company, he learns the secret truth of the Chapter and its Successors. The Dark Angels Primarch Lion El'Jonson was betrayed at the end of the Horus Heresy by his second-in-command Luther, who slew the Lion in single combat on the Dark Angels' lost homeworld of Caliban before he and those other Dark Angels who had been corrupted by Chaos were transported into the Warp by the will of the Ruinous Powers. These Traitor Marines are known today as the Fallen Angels, and the Dark Angels and all of their Unforgiven kin are sworn to bring every one of the Fallen to repentance or death before they can receive the Emperor's forgiveness.

The 1st Company of the Dark Angels is led by Belial, the current Master of the Deathwing Company. Following a spectacular victory at the world of Piscina IV during the Third War for Armageddon in 999.M41, Belial assumed the mantle of Grand Master of the Deathwing after the violent death of his predecessor aboard the Space Hulk Charnel Shrine. Shortly thereafter, Belial was elected to serve as the Grand Master of the Dark Angels' 1st Company through the unanimous assent of the Masters and Grand Masters of the Chapter. He swiftly earned the approval of the Chapter's Supreme Grand Master himself, as well as the admiration and unswerving loyalty of those under his command.

Deathwing and the DeathwatchEdit

On a few, extremely rare occasions, a member of the Deathwing of the Dark Angels or one of their Successor Chapters takes the Apocryphon Oath and joins the Long Watch, serving with the elite Deathwatch, the Chamber Militant of the Ordo Xenos. In doing so, he sets aside his role as executioner of the Inner Circle, but not entirely, for the Unforgiven never tire in the hunt for the Fallen. The Deathwing Battle-Brother’s oaths to the Inner Circle rarely interfere with his duties to the Deathwatch. In undertaking the Long Watch he is honouring the purpose for which his very Chapter was created—guarding the Imperium from its enemies. However, there may be times when the Battle-Brother receives a sealed, keyed astropathic transmission, or a message is passed to him from another Battle-Brother of the same Chapter. There may be some task he is expected to undertake, or some enemy he must engage even while his Kill-team’s mission is undertaken. It takes great skill on the part of the Deathwing Battle-Brother to ensure his responsibilities do not clash, for were that to happen, the Deathwatch’s entire mission within their assigned sector of the galaxy would be undermined.

Battle-Brothers of the Deathwing are renowned for always taking to the field in their bone-white Terminator Armour. However, the nature of the Deathwatch's vigil influences the tactics and choices of even the most tradition-bound of Astartes, and many Deathwing who have taken the Apocryphon Oath have chosen to set aside their Terminator Armour when its effect upon the mission would be more detrimental than advantageous. These Battle-Brothers honour the traditions of the Deathwing by taking the bone heraldry and broken sword emblem of their company upon the right shoulder of their Power Armour in place of the Dark Angels' Chapter badge. A Deathwing Battle-Brother must choose to wear either his Terminator Armour or his Power Armour at the start of a mission, and cannot change that choice at any point during the mission.

Company OrganisationEdit

The Deathwing is composed entirely of Veteran Space Marines who serve as the Chapter's Terminators. They are tasked with a mission that takes precedence over all others, even though they may be called upon to fight a wide range of foes. The Deathwing are responsible for crushing all foes of the Unforgiven, and there are no greater enemies than the Fallen. Like the 2nd Company of the Dark Angels and other Unforgiven Chapters, which is known as the Ravenwing and concentrates on mobile warfare using Bike Squads and Land Speeders, the Deathwing does not comply with the organisation of Space Marine Chapters as outlined by the Codex Astartes, though all of the other companies in Unforgiven Chapters generally do so.

Company Combat DoctrineEdit

The Dark Angels are known for their stoic and intractable manner, unflinching against even the mightiest of foes. The Deathwing are paragons of stoicism, unwilling to take even a single step away from the enemy when battle is joined, their prowess honed across countless battlefields so that they can weather any attack. The Deathwing favour rapid teleport attacks, appearing literally from nowhere (often collaborating with the more mobile Ravenwing squadrons on reconaissance missions to ensure the precision of their teleportation coordinates) to deliver overwhelming force against an unprepared enemy. Teleportation is the easiest way to strike from nowhere in Terminator Armour, but other methods work as effectively for a veteran of countless wars. Once the Ravenwing has located the enemy, the Deathwing are deployed to destroy them so utterly that not a single trace remains. In the case of the Fallen Angels, the Deathwing cast down all of their works and grind them to dust beneath their Ceramite boots, so that none may ever know of the stain cast upon the Unforgiven’s honour by their very existence. The fortunate are destroyed in the unstoppable maelstrom that is a Deathwing assault; the unfortunate are dragged away to the dungeons of The Rock, to suffer the attentions of the Interrogator-Chaplains and to confess their sins in the vain hope of a merciful end.

Company AppearanceEdit

Company BadgeEdit

The Deathwing company badge is a variant of the ancient icon of The Order, the knightly order of Caliban that served as a precursor to the Dark Angels Legion. It is a down-turned broken blade on a red roundel, which symbolises the schism within the Dark Angels Legion that occurred due to Luther's uprising on Caliban during the closing days of the Horus Heresy.

Company ColoursEdit

Prior to the Horus Heresy, during the Great Crusade, the Power Armour of the Dark Angels Legion was coloured jet-black. After the Heresy, the bulk of the Chapter began to appear in dark green armour, whilst the 1st and 2nd Companies' panoply remained jet-black in honour of the original Legion colours. The Deathwing Company's Astartes later painted their Terminator Armour in a bone-white colour scheme to remember the lone squad of Dark Angel Terminators who defended a Dark Angels recruitment world from a Tyranid Genestealer invasion. These Terminators painted their armour white, the colour of death, as they believed that they would never survive the confrontation. Surprisingly, these Terminators proved successful in reclaiming the world and in doing so saved a crucial part of the Dark Angels' cultural heritage and the genetic diversity of the Chapter. Amongst the Unforgiven Chapters, only the Dark Angels' Deathwing Company Terminators actually continue this tradition. The Deathwing are both the most stubborn and most resilient of the Astartes of the Dark Angels and Unforgiven Chapters, and will often refuse to leave a battlefield even in the face of overwhelming odds, citing the tradition of the Terminators who saved the Dark Angels' recruitment world.

Space Hulk ExpansionEdit

Deathwing is also the name of the first expansion produced for the Games Workshop PC game Space Hulk. The expansion is named after the Dark Angels' Deathwing Company. It features rules for solo play of Space Hulk.

SourcesEdit

• Angels of Darkness (Novel) by Gav Thorpe
• Chapter Approved 2003 - Third Book of the Astronomican, "Dark Angels Update", p. 100
• Citadel Journal 37, "Tacticus Dark Angels", pp. 78-85
• Codex: Dark Angels (4th Edition), p. 16
• Codex: Dark Angels (3rd Edition), pp. 10, 12-13,
• Codex: Angels of Death (2nd Edition), pp. 30, 37, 40, 73
• Deathwatch: Core Rulebook (RPG), pp. 45-46
• Deathwatch: First Founding (RPG), p. 50-53
• Deathwing (Anthology), "Deathwing" by Bryan Ansell & William King
• Deathwing: Rules & Mission (1st Edition)
• Fallen Angel (Novel) by Mike Lee
• Space Hulk: Campaigns (1st Edition)
• Space Hulk: Mission Book (2nd Edition)
• Space Hulk: Rulebook (2nd Edition)
• Warhammer: Monthly (Promotional), "Deathwing"
• White Dwarf 303 (US), "Index Astartes: Deep Strike", p. 18
• White Dwarf 161 (US), "Deathwing Terminators", pp. 4-7
• White Dwarf 137 (US), "The Last Stand: Space Hulk Campaign", pp. 42-50
• White Dwarf 133 (US), "Space Hulk: Genestealer Invasion"
• White Dwarf 112 (US), "Terminator: Space Marine Tactical Dreadnought Armour"

GalleryEdit

Deathwing Battle-Brothers perform the dangerous duty of clearing a derelict Space Hulk

Deathwing fighting the menance of the Tyranid Genestealers aboard a Space Hulk

The Astartes of the Deathwing in battle

A Deathwing Interrogator-Chaplain leads a squad of fellow Deathwing Veterans

Deathwing Battle-Brothers wearing their bone-coloured Terminator Armour

Ancient vid-log pict of Deathwing brethren on their homeworld searching for the truth of why the population has gone missing

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