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A regular series focusing on the Imperium's finest warriors, ths Space Marines of the Adeptus Astartes

STEALTH FIGHTERS
The Star Foxes Space Marine Chapter

by Troy Arakaki a.k.a Kitsune

[ STAR FOXES GALLERY ]

HQ

ELITE

TROOPS

FAST ATTACK

HEAVY SUPPORT

SPECIAL CHARACTERS

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Located on the far edge of the galaxy, the Star Foxes are the last defenders of the Imperial Frontier. They fight against all foes that seek to threaten the isolated worlds of humanity be they raiders, renegades, cultists or aliens. The Star Foxes are masters of stealth and reconnaissance, relying on their speed and mobility to deliver swift death to all foes of humanity.

Origins

It is believed that the Star Foxes were created sometime during the Thirteenth Founding (Dark Founding) and the records containing details of its creation are incomplete or in some cases missing entirely. It is presumed that they are a successor Chapter with its gene-seed originating from the Ultramarines. The Star Foxes for the most part, follow the guidelines set forth by the Codex Astartes but have strayed from the strict letter of the Codex with variations introduced by doctrine, culture and necessity.

Home World

The home planet of the Star Foxes, Ulisigiata or more commonly known as Darkwood, is located on the far southwestern spiral arm of the galaxy within the Segmentum Tempestus. It is an isolated system containing a medium star orbited by nine planets, of which only Darkwood is inhabited. The system is extremely isolated and difficult to reach making regular travel to it minimal at best.

Darkwood is a temperate, feudal world with a wide variation of climates and terrain. These range from humid rain forests along the equilateral belt, to high mountain woodlands covering most of the continental masses, to the open tundra nearer the poles.

Two moons orbit the planet, Voluxous and Volora, named after two tribal mythological entities. These moons have extremely different climates in contrast to Darkwood itself. The first moon, Voluxous, is a dry, arid desert world while its fraternal twin, Volora, is an arctic world of cold and ice. Both moons are habitable, albeit under extremely harsh conditions.

The isolation of Darkwood from other systems and Imperial worlds has forged the inhabitants into rugged, fiercely independent people. They have had to survive without help or influence from others for countless generations. Conflicts ranging from sporadic skirmishes with rival clans to the occasional battle with invading off world raiders, all have had to be dealt with for the most part on their own.

Darkwood culture has a strong tribal tradition with family bonds and clan devotion rivaling that of even the Ecclesiarchy. Their traditions require that every single member of a clan must work, hunt, and fight in order to ensure the continuation of all its members. Everyone from the youngest child to the group's elders contribute in some way to the clan's ability to survive.

The clans of Darkwood are superbly skilled in the arts of tracking, stealth and ambush. These are necessary for ensuring that the clan will be able to eat, to provide skins for clothing, or to be victorious if engaged in battle. These skills are honed from an early age when offspring are taught to hunt as soon as they are able to walk. Children start off by learning to trap rodents and later by hunting small game. As they get older, their game gets larger and more dangerous.

Animals like the awiutanu; a species of antelope standing almost twice the height of a man, with meter long, razor edged horns that can easily slice a man in half. There are huge birds of prey, the tlanuwa, with wingspans 25' across that are as likely to pick up an unsuspecting person as an owl would a rat.

The most varied of species on Darkwood are its foxes. These range from the inali, a black fox the size of a large dog said to be able to render itself invisible in order to stalk it's prey. To the tsulaegwa, akin to the red fox, except that it is as large as a wolf with an attitude to match. Most dangerous of all are the tokano, an intelligent, telepathically capable species that lure its prey into traps with mental illusions or by subtle mind control (see Imperial reference: WD.156 pertaining to a related species found on Fenris). Legends claim that these foxes can shape-shift and take the form of a human (usually an attractive young man or woman) in order to deceive an unsuspecting traveler, but this is hypothesized as being attributed to its mental abilities.

Beliefs

Darkwood's tribal traditions stress that all members of the clan must depend on one another for its prosperity and survival regardless of an individual's status or gender. Everyone has skills that can be utilized in some way and are relied upon to do their share. As a result, there are no distinct gender role differences among Darkwood's populace. The clans see no reason to differentiate between sexes and their traditional roles, they simply use the best individual for the task at hand.

As a result, the women of Darkwood have become the equal, and in some instances, superior to their male counterparts. What they lack in brute physical strength, they more than make up for in agility and dexterity. Many of a clan's best trackers and marksmen are females. They are almost always part of a hunting party using their skills in conjunction with the skills of the group's men to take down game. In times of battle, the women of Darkwood share the responsibility of fighting alongside the men in defense of the clan.

Inquisitorial Certificate of Purity
[ click to enlarge ]

Geneseed

One major area that the Star Foxes differ from most other Chapters lies with the Space Marines themselves. They are one of the rare Chapters that have a mixed complement of male and female battle brethren. This is not entirely impossible as first might be thought. While it is true that the zygotes used in the creation of the Space Marines implants are keyed to male hormones, it is theoretically possible to compensate for a female's biology with supplemental treatments to the recruit or genetic alteration to the implants themselves. Experiments in this area has had been attempted in the past with inconclusive and varied results. In the case of the Star Foxes, the experiment obviously has had success, with only a slightly higher rate of implant rejection by females when compared to males (+.07%). Rumors of other Chapters that have had similar experiments still circulate to this day.

It is speculated that the founders of the Chapter wanted to take advantage of the superb natural skills of the Darkwood females. Another major factor is that the strong cultural bonds of camaraderie and interdependence that exists between the men and women of Darkwood could not be easily broken. These are desirable traits for a cohesive fighting force and a resource that could not be disregarded. From what can be observed, no denigration of battle effectiveness exists with this arrangement when compared to other Chapters of the Emperor's finest. The percentage of females that are active at any given time is approximately 24%.

The only significant drawback to this is not found in the Chapter itself, but with other Space Marine Chapters that they have encountered. Some Chapters look upon the existence of female marines with suspicion and contempt. Others regard the Star Foxes as a vile aberration of even worse, heretical. Still, most other Chapters look upon the Star Foxes deeds and accomplishments and can find no fault. Since it's founding, they have served the Emperor with honor and dedication.

THE GREAT DEN

The Star Foxes Fortress-Monastery Utanustagalayi or more commonly referred to as “The Great Den”, is in many ways like that of other Chapters, complete with an Assimularum, Reclusiam, Librarium, Chapel, Armory, Solitarium, and other commonly found features. The fact that the majority of Utanustagalayi is located underground is not uncommon for a Space Marine stronghold. What is unusual is that the existence of the Star Foxes' base is a mystery to most inhabitants of Darkwood.

The grand scale of most Fortress-Monasteries makes it difficult if not impossible to keep their location secret from the populace for very long. The location of The Great Den, on the other hand, has been kept secret since it's original construction. It is located on an isolated part of the smaller continent, making it inaccessible to intruders. Even upon arriving at the location one is surprised not to find the enormous, intimidating structures characteristic of most other Chapter's citadels. You would be hard pressed to find anything at all except for large boulders, sheer cliffs and nothing but giant ironwood trees for miles.

But this is Utanustagalayi's great deception. It is here in plain view, yet hidden from prying eyes and those who would seek its destruction. The entire complex is not only underground, but is masked, concealed and camouflaged with some of the most sophisticated devices and technology available.

Its many access ports are strategically located throughout the forest with larger vehicle bays covered by a combination of false fronts or holofields. The steep cliffs of one coastline contain even larger bays that are capable of housing the Chapter's Thunderhawks. Even the trees are not what they seem for within many of them are surveillance equipment, communication relays, automatic defense batteries, and even anti-orbital macrocannons. The Star Foxes also use electronic jammers and scramblers not only mask energy signatures of Utanustagalayi from orbit, but also relays that give false energy readings in areas that have nothing of value. Similarly constructed but considerably smaller bases are found scattered all over Darkwood and it's moons.

All of these precautions are to ensure the highest possible survival from a major planetary invasion. Since Darkwood is in such a remote location, the arrival of reinforcements from other Imperial forces would probably not arrive until it was too late. The Star Foxes designed their defenses around subtle misdirection and deception. If the enemy were prevented from knowing where Darkwood's defenses were concentrated, they would be forced to split their forces into smaller elements in order to cover the territory. Once this happens, then the Star Foxes could then deal with these fragments of an invader's forces more effectively than trying to take them on all at once.

It is this exact scenario that took place twice in recent history, once against an Ork horde, and more recently against a Chaos Space Marine incursion. If not for these defenses, Darkwood would surely have fallen.

Recruitment

Star Foxes recruit exclusively from the population of Darkwood, selecting only those who prove themselves at an early age. Clans consider it the highest honor to have one of their own chosen for this privilege. Some clans are renown for producing offspring that are consistently some of the best recruits. Sometimes, rival clans will hold "competitions" to test the bravery and skills of its members in hopes that their youths will be among the selected few. For example, participants equipped with only a knife are sent out into the wild alone, tasked to capture a tokano. Many of these young men and women never return.

Occasionally aspirants are even chosen from the ranks of the Star Foxes themselves, usually the offspring of a proven pair of warriors. These prodigy often make the best recruits as they have spent their lives amongst the battle brothers and sisters of the Chapter and more than likely have some natural talent inherited from their parents. These individuals go on to make exceptional marines and if fate is kind, will one-day sire a child to continue his or her legacy.

Some of the Star Foxes greatest heroes have been from the same bloodline. The Dreadnoughts Red Toth and Silvermane are brother and sister who still serve the chapter encased in their adamantium bodies. Raynard Valentia, the current Chapter Master has not only his mate, Morgana, but his own sons and daughter serving in leadership positions within the Chapter.

Combat Doctrine

Darkwoods' people's background as hunters and trackers has strongly influenced the Star Foxes tactics and doctrine. They employ scouting units more regularly than other Chapters, relying on stealth and infiltration to advance upon or flank their enemies.

They have since incorporated other doctrine from the Codex Astartes, with special emphasis on reconnaissance and tactical intelligence. The Star Foxes cultural history makes them well suited for the reconnaissance role and they place a high priority on all aspects of it. Star Foxes use all the resources that they can muster, everything from orbital surveillance satellites to a scout on the ground with “eyes on target”. Chapter doctrine demands that as much of the enemy's strength and disposition be learned so that any weaknesses may be exploited. The Chapter's HQ staffs a larger number of Intelligence Officers and analysts than commonly found in most other Space Marine Headquarters.

One area that the Star Foxes are lacking is in the area of Heavy Support. This is partially due to the relative isolation that the Star Foxes have with other more industrialized worlds of the Imperium, thus making the acquisition and replacement of heavy armored vehicles difficult.

Because of this drawback, the Star Foxes have adapted a lightly armored, highly mobile tactical doctrine that relies less on the brute force that other chapters are renown for.

To compensate for their lack of more heavily armored vehicles, the Star Foxes need to rely on the use of its Attack Bikes, Land Speeders, FAVs (Fast Attack Vehicles), and even Assault squads. What they don't have in the area of devastating firepower, they make up for with superior mobility. The entire 9th Company has been given a rapid strike role and is composed of entirely of bikes, Land Speeders, FAVs and all variants.

Star Foxes make use of all equipment normally available to a Codex Chapter. In addition, the Chapter has developed specialized equipment designed to enhance their scout and reconnaissance missions. Improved scanners, ROVRS (Remote Operated Vehicles: Reconnaissance/Surveillance), camouflage, and advanced communication equipment to name but a few.

One additional vehicle, the Firefox FAV (Fast Attack Vehicle), is used exclusively by the Chapter. Originally introduced by the 6th Company “Desert Foxes”, this fast wheeled vehicle was designed to augment the bikes and Land Speeders that they often deploy. The Firefox is simple to maintain, has numerous weapon configurations to match any mission, is easily transported and is able to perform in any battlezone.

Organization

Over time, the Chapter's organization has been altered from the Codex Astartes to fit in more with the Star Foxes' tactics and doctrine. The 1st Company is composed of the Chapter's Veterans. The 2nd through 5th Companies are organized into standard Battle Companies with the one exception of the 10th Devastator Squads being replaced with a Scout Squad.

The 6th Company is based on the moon Voluxous, is a Battle Company that specializes in hot weather, desert operations, hence their nickname “Desert Foxes”. Volora, the planet's other moon, is the base of operations for the 7th Company ”Arctic Foxes”, masters of cold weather operations. The 8th Company is a reserve Assault Company with the 9th Company as mentioned earlier, organized as a Rapid Strike Company. The Star Foxes' 10th Company has an expanded role of not only training the Chapter's new recruits, but also the responsibility of carrying out most of the reconnaissance operations.

The Star Foxes' fleet maintains a larger than average number of strike cruisers and rapid strike vessels for a Chapter its size. This is necessary to give them the mobility and speed needed to respond to various threats and to patrol the vast frontier within their area of operations. Less commonly deployed is the Chapter's single battle barge Udiuliunula (Shadow Storm) as the Chapter is not usually tasked with missions requiring a massive planetary invasion or siege.

Battle Cry

The Star Foxes have no battle cry as such, preferring to strike silently before their enemies even know that they are there.

Armor & Color Schemes

Star Foxes' utilize a mix of Mark VI and Mark VII variants of Space Marine Power Armor but use the Mark VI “Beakie” helmets as the standard for either armor type. The helmets are painted in the Chapter colors of dark orange, with a white area painted under the “muzzle” that is intended to resemble the foxes that they are named for. Sergeants are signified with red helmets with the typical white muzzle markings.

Power armor is also dark orange with black trim on the auto-reactive shoulder plates. The hands and feet of their armor are also painted black with a rough gradation into the dark orange of the rest of the armor, usually extending to the mid-forearm and mid-shin areas. Squad markings are in white on the right shoulder plate with the Chapter's icon in black on the left shoulder plate.

Scouts wear brown fatigues with their Scout Armor in the standard Chapter colors and often wear face paint or facial tattoos.

Terminators and Veterans follow the same paint scheme as with Power Armor. Both also distinguish themselves with personal trophies, totems, seals, fox tails, teeth, skulls, and other various embellishments.

Specialist troops such as Chaplains, Librarians, Techmarines, and Apothecaries all follow the color scheme as set by their respective offices (i.e. black for Chaplains, blue for Librarians, etc.) and usually display the Chapter color on one or both shoulder plates. They also may adorn their armor as a Veteran would with seals, tails, totems, etc.

The Desert Foxes of the 6th Company substitute the standard colors with a tan and brown color scheme, while the 7th Company Arctic Foxes paint their armor in white.

Note that with all armor types no attempt has been made to have armor designed exclusively for the female members of the Chapter, they all use the same style armor regardless of gender. Although common in other forces for females to have form fitting or stylized armor of some sort, Star Foxes find that this is not necessary. However some of the higher ranking females do seem to opt for custom armor but those are usually the exception. For the rest of the rank and file battle brothers and sisters all have the same outward appearance (unless of course, they aren't wearing helmets at the time).

Vehicles, dreadnoughts, and bikes are usually painted in the Chapter colors but are sometimes repainted for special operations such as ones on night worlds or hive worlds.

USING A STAR FOXES ARMY IN WARHAMMER 40,000

Star Foxes use the following units from Codex: Space Marines:

HQ: Space Marine Heroes, Librarian, Chaplain, Command Squad, Emperor's Champion

ELITES: Terminator Squad, Terminator Assault Squad, Dreadnought, Space Marine Veteran Squad

TROOPS: Space Marine Tactical Squad, Scout Squad

FAST ATTACK: Assault Squad, Bike Squadron, Attack Bike Squadron, Scout Bike Squadron, Land Speeder Squadron, Land Speeder Tornado, Land Speeder Typhoon, Firefox FAV (see below)

HEAVY SUPPORT: Devastator Squad, Predator Annihilator, Predator Destructor, Vindicator, Land Raider, Land Raider Crusader, Land Raider Prometheus, Whirlwind

A copy of Codex: Space Marines is necessary to field a Star Foxes Space Marine army. The following rules and Codex changes apply. All entries in italics must have your opponents permission before using or including in your army. Note that the entire army must be Star Foxes, not just one or two squads.

Scouts: The Star Foxes place a high priority on tactical reconnaissance and battlefield intelligence gathering. They will rarely ever go into battle without first sending out some kind of recon unit. To represent this a minimum of one unit of Space Marine Scouts or Scout Bike Squadrons per detachment must be taken for any mission.

Terminator Armor: The Veteran First Company has a smaller number of suits of Terminator Tactical Dreadnought Armor available to it than most other Chapters - roughly about half. Only the most important and crucial of missions warrant the deployment of these prized suits. The Star Foxes may therefore only field a maximum of one Terminator Squad or one Terminator Assault Squad per detachment.

Limited Heavy Support: One area that the Star Foxes are lacking is in the area of Heavy Support. Star Foxes are restricted to one less Heavy Support unit per detachment than normally allowed for a mission. So for example, a Standard Mission would normally allow 0-3 Heavy Support units, the Star Foxes would only be allowed 0-2.

In addition, only one tank (Predator, Whirlwind, Vindicator, Land Raider and any variants) may be chosen for each detachment. You may, however, choose any number of Rhinos and Razorbacks transports.

Fast Attack: To make up for the lack of more heavily armored vehicles, the Star Foxes need to rely on the use of Attack Bikes, Land Speeders, Firefox FAVs, and even Assault Squads. What they don't have in the area of devastating firepower, they make up for with superior mobility.

Star Foxes may choose one additional Fast Attack unit per detachment than would be normally allowed for a mission. This means that for a Standard Mission, a Star Fox force could include 0-4 Fast Attack units instead of the normal 0-3.

Character Scout Option: It is not uncommon for Star Fox HQ characters to lead units of Scouts on critical missions and occasionally, some Scout equipped characters will be accompanied by their Command Squads.

Any Star Fox Hero, Librarian, or Chaplain may be equipped to perform the role of a Scout. For no extra point cost, he replaces his power armor (3+ save) for scout armor (4+ save) and gains the ability to use the Infiltrators and Move Through Cover special rules like other Space Marine Scouts.

If accompanied by a Command Squad, then the entire squad must also take the Scout option. Additionally, they may choose to substitute their normal weapon options with the weapon options of a Space Marine Scout squad. Note that you cannot choose from the weapon options from both entries, it must be from one or the other. In either case, the squad loses any of its normal transport options but retains all its other character options (Veteran Sergeant, Standard Bearer, Apothecary, & Techmarine).

Tactical Intelligence Gathering: The Star Foxes commit to more intelligence gathering resources and operations than other chapters. Orbital reconnaissance satellites, manned and remotely piloted vehicles, electronic and communications surveillance, deep infiltration, and other various operations and technologies are employed regularly. All of this is represented by a bonus to the Star Foxes strategy rating.

When rolling to determine the highest strategy rating for choosing a mission or who will be the attacker/defender of a mission, the Star Foxes may re-roll any one of their dice and will automatically win in the event of a tie.

Wargear

Artificer Scout Armor: Artificer scout armor is built by master craftsmen and offers even greater protection than a normal suit of Space Marine scout armor. The armor may be in the form of traditional scout armor, but constructed with superior damage resistant materials. Alternately it is in the form of regular power armor with improved servo-motors and electronics, offering greater mobility without sacrificing armor protection. It may be taken as an upgrade for an Independent Character equipped as a scout and increases the model's armor save to 3+.

+15 points for Independent Characters equipped as Scouts

Ghille Cloak: Ghille Cloaks are simply a cloak with an effective camouflage pattern augmented by attached foliage (either artificial or natural), that is designed to mimic the appearance of a woodland's surroundings. The result is that after a second or two motionless the wearer appears to merge into a forest's background, offering chameleon-like protection from prying eyes.

Any unit attempting to fire on models wearing Ghille Cloaks may only fire up to D6” into or out of woods (instead of the normal 6”).

+5 points for Characters equipped as Scouts and +3 points per model for any unit led by that Character

The Firefox Fast Attack Vehicle was conceived and constructed out of necessity. It is able to move rapidly and pack a considerable punch with its heavy weapon. It has various weapon configurations that can be tailored to perform numerous battlefield roles, from a reconnaissance vehicle, to an anti-personnel raider, to even a tank hunter. It's relative ease of maintenance, durability, and firepower makes it a valued addition to the Starfoxes armory.

Firefox Fast Attack Vehicle (FAV)

Type: Light Vehicle, Fast (Souped-up Engine). Note that as the crew of a Firefox FAV is wearing power armor, the Firefox FAV does not count as open topped.

Size: Normal Crew: Space Marines

Weapons: Heavy bolter plus a pintle-mounted storm bolter (see Space Marine Vehicle Upgrades on page 35 of the Codex: Space Marine for details).

Options: The heavy bolter may be upgraded to a missile launcher at an additional cost of +5 pts, an autocannon at +15pts, or an assault cannon at +15 pts. The pintile-mounted storm bolter may be upgraded to a grenade launcher at +5 points.

SPECIAL RULES

Difficult Terrain: Firefox FAVs may re-roll a failed Difficult Terrain Test as long as it is not moving more than 6" that turn (equivalent to a Dozer Blade).

CREDITS:

Inspired and based on original background material by Gerard Lee.

Playtesting, input, suggestions, material and/or critique:
Kyle Arakaki, James Luna, Daron Patton, Deskin R., Kenneth Taba, Brian Walczak, and the players at Other Realms.

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Revised: January 03, 2003.