Space Marine Scout
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Scout redirects here. For Astra Militarum scouts, see Imperial Guard Scout. |
Forget all your preconceptions of war, of battle-lines clashing in the churned ground. Your mission is to attack before the foe even realises that the war has begun, to strike hard at those vital weaknesses that all armies possess, but that no commander will admit to. Under my tutelage you will learn how to seek out such fragilities and smite them with every weapon at your disposal. Master these duties and I will have nothing more to teach, and you will truly be a Space Marine.
Scouts are the new recruits of a Space Marine chapter who have advanced far enough in the early stages of their training and biological transformation to take part in battle with the rest of the Chapter.
More lightly armed and armoured than fully transhuman Battle brothers, their role is to range ahead of the main Space Marine force, preparing the way for the main advance by infiltrating enemy lines, sabotaging and gathering intelligence — causing as much chaos and disruption as possible.[1a][2] Primaris Space Marines can also serve as Scouts and perform the same duties as their Firstborn brethren.[11]
Space Marine Scouts are in a unique position, as only halfway to transhumanism they are still able to sympathize with humans. While these augmented transhumans stand taller than any baseline human, they still retain memories of their childood, unlike their fully initiated Battle Brothers.[21]
Contents
Training and Deployment
Eighteen times I have lain on cold metal, my eyes open, my body torn asunder and remade strong by the strictures of the Codex. Once more and I will be an Angel of Death. These scars are steps to my ascension.
Every Marine belonging to a Codex chapter begins his combat life as a Scout. Over a period of several months, under the tutelage of a Sergeant, the Scout learns the use of all the weapons at the disposal of the Adeptus Astartes, and becomes skilled at every aspect of war.[1a]
As part of a Scout Squad, a Scout enters combat for the first time as a skirmisher or infiltrator. Relying on stealth rather than brute force, Scouts slip behind enemy lines, gather intelligence, destroy strategic targets, and capture or assassinate key enemy commanders, then fade away before the enemy has had a chance to react.[1a] Because of their speed and stealth, Scout Squads are often assigned to boarding actions against Tyranid Hive Ships or search-and-destroy missions against key synapse creatures that direct the rest of the Hive Mind. For these missions, their armament often includes Heavy Bolters loaded with Hellfire rounds.[1a] During the final stage of their training, Scouts are trained in the use of Bikes, performing a faster-moving version of the reconnaissance and skirmish roles they fulfil on foot.[1b]
Off the battlefield, the scouts train and learn under the tutelage of a veteran Sergeant, taking to heart the lessons and skills that will one day see them elevated to the rank of a full battle brother. A Scout receives his final implant, the Black Carapace, when he is deemed ready to join the Chapter as a full Battle-Brother — the implant marks him as a full Marine and allows him to interface with his suit of power armour.[17]
During the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy, Scouts operated alongside similar fully-sworn Battle-Brother formations dubbed Reconnaissance Squads. While Scouts acted as faster, lighter, and more mobile advance screening units, Reconnaissance Squads tended to specialize more in operating independently deep behind enemy lines for extended periods as well as conducting other special operations such as sabotage, raiding, and infiltration.[16]
Scout Variations
- Scout Sergeants - Veterans who are chosen to train their Chapter's next generation of Battle Brothers. They command Scout Squad Kill Team Kill Team Units and can be equipped with Astartes Shotguns, bolt pistols, boltguns and chainswords.[9b]
- Scout Heavy Gunner - Highly abled Scouts who use heavy weapons to engage and destroy powerful enemy targets. They can be equipped with missile launchers, heavy bolters and bolt pistols.[9b]
- Scout Hunter - Scouts who use Grapnel Launchers swiftly traverse dangerous terrain and negotiate challenging ground. They do so to set up ambushes, circumnavigate enemy strongpoints or evade pursuers. They are equipped with Grapnel Launchers, bolt pistols and combat blades.[9b]
- Scout Sniper - Scouts who excel in fulfilling the fundamental elements of assassination and reconnaissance. They can hold their positions for days, in order to wait for the precise moment to take a killing shot. They are equipped with Sniper Rifles, bolt pistols and camo cloaks.[9b] Primaris Scouts in the Dark Angels Chapter are armed with Mark III Shrike-pattern sniper rifles.[11]
- Scout Tracker - Scouts who are equipped with highly powerful auspexes, that are capable of analysing a battlefield. Thanks to the information these devices provide, Scout Squads can identify targets or rapidly plan deadly ambushes. Beside their auspexes, Scout Trackers are also equipped with boltguns.[9b]
- Scout Warrior - Scouts who are skilled fighters, committed to their squad and determined to ascend to full Battle Brother status in their Chapters. No matter what the mission demands of them, they will fight furiously to defeat the enemy and prove themselves. Scout Warriors are equipped with Astartes Shotguns, bolt pistols, boltguns and combat blades.[9b]
- Scout Squad Kill Teams - Kill Team Units that are composed of Scouts and led by Scout Sergeants. They contain eight Scouts with restrictions of only having one Scout Hunter, Scout Sniper, Scout Tracker and Scout Heavy Gunner per Kill Team. However multiple Scout Warriors can be included in them.[9a]
- Scout Bike Squad - Scouts who ride bikes and are frequently equipped with cluster mines, grenade launchers, and a locator beacon.[1b]
Chapter Variations
The Emperor Protects, this is the mantra throughout the Imperium. But in what manner does he do so? Through his Angels of Death - us. We are his knives in the dark, his wardens of the shadows and his ever watchful eyes. We are instrunments of his will, created by him to punish his foes.
As set out in the Codex Astartes, neophyte Marines are to be organised into the chapter's 10th Company, composed entirely of Scouts.[1a][1d] However some chapters ignore these teachings.
- Wolf Scouts of the Space Wolves, for example, are not neophytes, but instead experienced battle brothers who are loners by temperament, unsuited for the camraderie typical to a Wolf Pack. They are trained in a wider array of weaponry and so may be found carrying alternative equipment to the scouts of more codex-compliant chapters.[3]
- Terror Scouts of the Imperial Fists Chapter, carry out wanton acts of terrorism in order to end Imperial rebellions.[10]
- The Black Templars likewise have no specific company for scouts. Instead, each neophyte is apprenticed to a full Battle-brother (known as an Initiate) and accompanies his squad into combat.[20]
- The Absolvers have a unique rite of passage before receiving their final implant. In the isolated and benighted Gilead System in which they are now trapped, each scout must lead a cadre of mortal warriors on a focused mission before they are allowed to be implanted with the Black Carapace.[21]
Equipment
Scouts are fitted with Scout Armour, a type of carapace armour which protects most of their body with rigid plates, but is lighter and less confining that a full suit of power armour.[1e] Scouts also frequently wear Camo Cloaks, which enable them to imitate almost any terrain.[1f]
A Scout squad will be equipped according to its designated tactical role, although ordinarily the entire squad will carry bolt pistols and frag and krak grenades, and at least one member will carry an auspex for information gathering. Those who fight alongside Tactical squads will likely be armed with bolters or shotguns. Scout squads specialising in close combat will instead be equipped with combat knives. Scouts serving as long-range fire support carry sniper rifles, Needle Sniper Rifles[19], missile launchers, and/or heavy bolters. They may be equipped with combat webbing in order to effectively carry their gear, and may also carry specialised or exotic equipment like grapnels or grav chutes.[1g]
Noteworthy Scouts
- Cyrus of the Blood Ravens
- Naaman of the Dark Angels
- Torias Telion of the Ultramarines
- Oberdeii of the Ultramarines
Miniatures
Scout Squad (10th Edition)[8]
Scouts with Sniper Rifles (5th Edition)
Scouts (4th Edition)
Scouts (3rd Edition)[12]
Scouts (2nd Edition)[13]
Scouts (1st Edition)[14]
See also
Sources
- 1: Codex: Space Marines (5th Edition):
- 2: Codex: Ultramarines,
[Help] - 3: Codex: Space Wolves (5th Edition), pg. 27
- 4: Imperial Armour Volume Eight - Raid on Kastorel-Novem, pg. 106
- 5: White Dwarf 132 (UK), pg. 35
- 6: Solegends.com (last accessed 14 October 2020)
- 7: Solegends.com (last accessed 14 October 2020)
- 8: Warhammer Community: NOVA Open Previews – A New Generation of Space Marine Scouts (posted 30/08/2023) (last accessed 31 August 2023)
- 9: Kill Team: Salvation:
- 10: Space Marine (Novel), Chapter 7
Heretic Tomes - 11: Lazarus: Enmity's Edge (Novel), Chapter 2
- 12: 2005 - Complete Catalog and Hobby Reference, pg. 229
- 13: White Dwarf 213 (UK), pg. 111
- 14: 1991 - Citadel Miniatures Catalogue - Section One, pg. 21
- 15: Codex: Space Marines (6th Edition), pg. 85
- 16: Liber Hereticus, pgs. 48-49
- 17: Warhammer 40,000: Compendium, pg. 9
- 18: Kill Team: The App - Scout Squad Supplementary Information
- 19: Codex: Angels of Death (2nd Edition), pg. 10
- 20: Codex: Black Templars (9th Edition), pg. 11
- 21: Wrath & Glory Core Rulebook, pg. 106
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Uncited
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- Codex: Space Marines (3rd Edition), pg. 11, paragraph 4
