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Battle Barge: The Honor of Caliban
by Chris Waddell and Jesse Schooff


A fairly recent creation, the custom Dark Angels battle barge the Honor of Caliban owes its exsistence to Supreme Grand Master Azrael, Keeper of the Truth, the newest leader of the Dark Angels Space Marine chapter. Azrael ordered the extensive modifications to a Battle Barge already under construction in 940.M41, only a year after he became Grand Master. The massive battleship includes several custom upgrades, including powerful broadside lance arrays, twin-linked prow nova cannons, and an impressive arrary of sensors and long range scanning devices. These upgrades are in addition to the battle barge's already frightening arsenals of weapons such as bombardment cannons, virus bombs, thunderhawk gunships, and drop pods. The vessel was completed in 999.M41, a record time for a battleship of its size. However, few know of its true purpose.

During the Horus heresy, while the Dark Angel's primarch Lion El'Johnson was away from his home world of Caliban, the Legion's second in command, Luther, along with a number of other Marines, betrayed their primarch and began to worship the powers of Chaos. When Lion El'Johnson and his loyal marines returned and discovered the treachery, a titanic battle took place which destroyed the Dark Angel's home world of Caliban itself. The traitor Dark Angels, the Fallen, fled throughout the galaxy. Some joined the forces of Chaos as rogue marines. Others repentantly and inconspicously settled down in Imperial society.

Only the higher ranking Dark Angels marines know of this secret, but they are forever haunted by it. Grand Master Azrael intends to use the Honor of Caliban as a mobile base of operations in a massive Hunt for the Fallen. It is the belief of many in the chapter that as long as the Fallen live, the Dark Angels will remain unforgiven in the eyes of their Emperor.

The Honor of Caliban
500 pts
Type/Hits Speed Turns Shields Armour Turrets
Battleship/12 20cm 45° 3 6+ 4
Armament: Range/Speed Firepower/Strength Fire Arc
Port Lances 45 cm 4 Left
Starboard Lances 45 cm 4 Right
Prow Launch Bay Thunderhawks 20 cm 3 Front
Prow Nova Cannons 30-150 cm 2 Front
Dorsal Bombardment Cannons 30 cm 8 left/front/right

 
Special Rules:

Twin-Linked Nova Cannons: The two prow nova cannons are twin-linked, meaning they always fire at the same time, and cannot split their firepower between two targets. A glancing hit (one where the template touches the target ship's base) means that the target receives two automatic hits. A direct hit (where the center of the template is over the target ship's base) scores 2D6 automatic hits. A missed shot will mean that two blast markers are placed.

Enhanced Sensors: The Honor of Caliban has been upgraded with several additional sensor palletes to aid in its search for the Fallen. When an enemy ship is on special orders, the Honor of Caliban receives a +2 bonus to its leadership instead of the usual +1.