452
edits
Changes
Operational doctrine added from HH book 9
In addition, the Dark Angels are known to have access to a disproportionate amount of [[Plasma Weaponry]].{{Fn|4b}} During the time of the [[Great Crusade]], complementing the concentration of skill and hard-won knowledge of the Dark Angels [[Hexagrammaton]]. Was one of the most deadly arsenals in the entire Imperium. Much of the technology routinely deployed by the Dark Angels was of an order of complexity beyond that available to the younger Legions and on par with those of the [[Adeptus Custodes|Legio Custodes]], produced in dedicated manufactoria on [[Terra]] and elsewhere to the specifications of the Dark Angels learned forge masters to designs dating back millennia. Exotic plasma weaponry, munitions of archaic and unstable design as well as variants of armoured vehicles and void craft based on unique technologies, all were the sole province of the First Legion. This proved a potent force multiplier on the battlefield, amplifying the superior skills of the Dark Angels and allowing them to prevail against foes that lesser technology could not defeat. As well as those advanced weapons and designs they used openly, the Dark Angels also maintained large stocks of weapons of a darker renown. Within the sealed vaults of Caliban and Gramarye, as well as a number of secret caches scattered across the Imperium and guarded by dedicated Orders, were vast stores of weaponry long since proscribed to the other military arms of the Imperium. [[Gene-phage|Gene-phages]] capable of annihilating all life upon a planetary body in mere hours, core-breaching [[Magna-Torpedo|magna munitions]] that could tear a planet apart from within, stockpiles of ancient [[Silica-virae]] - the dreaded scourge of the nanite pronounced the ultimate heresy by the adepts of Mars--all could be found within the armouries of the Dark Angels. Such weapons could not be unleashed lightly, for they served only a single purpose - the utter destruction of life. They were of no use to conquerors, only to destroyers, and they served as the ultimate sanction for those enemies deserving of only annihilation.{{Fn|50d}}
By the last years of the Great Crusade, shortly before the outbreak of the Horus Heresy, the Dark Angels claimed a strength of approximately 180,000 to 200,000{{Fn|50e}} warriors, while other accounts claimed they had raised as many as a quarter of a million from the world of Caliban alone.{{Fn|33e}} In terms of sheer size this placed them in the upper tier of the Legiones Astartes, alongside such Legions as the Ultramarines and Sons of Horus, and despite the rise of the younger Legions to rival their glory, they still remained one of the single most powerful military forces in the Imperium. Additional records from the period have noted a much lower field strength for the Dark Angels, sometimes as low as 50,000. These reports are likely due to the confusion that the Dark Angels' organisational procedures and heraldry caused for most unfamiliar observers.{{Fn|50d}} The dense nature of the ciphers they used and the secretive nature of many of its sub-formations often led to some amount of bewilderment for outsiders, especially when combined with the fluid and shifting nature of authority and command within the Legion, sometimes even to the degree that it led to military setbacks when working alongside other Imperium forces. Surprisingly, the Dark Angels have made little attempt to remedy this situation, indeed some of their commanders, especially the older veterans of the Great Crusade, seem to take a quiet pride in the confusion it occasions among the least disciplined of their allies. In particular, a common practise by some Dark Angels forces is to arrive without announcing to their allies who commands the First Legion contingent, leaving their counterparts to determine whom to greet as warlord by the heraldry they display. Those few who make the correct choice, or who are wary enough to make no judgement, are treated with respect and those who choose poorly watched carefully for further lapses in judgement. Such tests of worth are commonplace among the Dark Angels, both for their own initiates and for those that would fight alongside them, for the sons of the Lion judge the worth of no warrior on rumour and hearsay alone.{{Fn|50d}}
Such actions are most often encountered among the more veteran formations of the Legion. Those forces whose tallies of victories and vanquished foes were so impressive that some among the newly-recruited regiments of the Imperium's armies thought them fabrications and even those who had served in the Great Crusade long enough to have heard of the valour of the First Legion rarely knew the full scope of their victories and sacrifices. Indeed, the Dark Angels remained one of the most experienced bodies of warriors within the Legiones Astartes. Despite the many dire battles they had faced, they had always retained a core of veterans to pass on the hard-won skills and knowledge of their struggles, indeed much of the structure of the Wings and Orders was dedicated to exactly this task. As such they had maintained a level of skill and proficiency in every sphere of warfare that, while sometimes less specialised than the younger Legion, could rarely be equalled among the Legiones Astartes. Given these material and organisational preferences the Dark Angels tended to a sparse pattern of deployment, scattering their numbers widely in relatively small detachments, relying more on the potency of their weaponry and the individual prowess of their warriors than on sheer numbers. Capitalising on the diverse nature of the warriors that made up each Chapter and Company, individual battle forces of the Dark Angels were most often little more than a handful of Chapters operating in close support, often a force as small as a few thousand warriors. Where other fleets relied more on the numbers they could bring to bear, the Dark Angels emphasised the fluid nature of their units which were able to quickly and efficiently reform as needed within a local theatre of war in order to meet the challenges of a given engagement. It was a rare sight to see large numbers of the First Legion gathered in any one place, and such a sight was considered a portent of the worst kind, for the grim, black-armoured ranks of the Dark Angels were only amassed to face the most dire of threats. Indeed, many among the ranks of the Imperial Army considered it a grave misfortune to be tasked with serving as support to the Dark Angels, not due to any mistreatment at the hands of the Legiones Astartes, but rather because the battlefields upon which they walked were inimical to the lives of merely mortal warriors and only the most skilled or fortunate soldiers survived such a tour of duty. Despite this long-held superstition, those few regiments that had served alongside the Dark Angels and survived held the battle honours granted them by the Lion with pride, despite the bloody price paid for their acquisition.{{Fn|50d}}
==Organisation==
