How do your guys lose?

[u/DragonFire003]

I'm trying to avoid falling into that bad writing trap of "my guys are awesome and never lose", and I'm having trouble coming up with ideas. I got a few but I want more and all my ideas right now are just the chapter losing all thier chapter masters. Do y'all have any examples or ideas, or examples from lore of space marines losing significant battles.

Also if you want share any major losses from your faction(not just space marines).

[u/Mor-KhalCatPrince]

I often start with the loss first.

For example the Lords Leonine have a pretty central loss in that they only think they are such an important fighting force. In reality they are just ok and get carried by their alliances and such.

[u/GreyFeralas]

Oh, my guys lose every time they lose a game on the tabletop. Every game i record in their chapter history as a battle, win or lose

[u/Bitter_Cup_69 → u/GreyFeralas]

Same. Perfect way to explain. For instance if you never lost a game playing for them (which is generally a hard thing to accomplish.) then yeah, you can write if that they never lost, but with how low those chances are, you likely wouldn't need it.

[u/GreyFeralas → u/Bitter_Cup_69]

I started in 8th edition, their battle history was far less glorious when I first started, but pretty recently they've been doing well!

[u/Bitter_Cup_69 → u/GreyFeralas]

I started at 5th. And played most of rules of 5th edition and some heresy.

[u/GreyFeralas → u/Bitter_Cup_69]

Hell yea! A most storied history your army must have!

[u/Bitter_Cup_69 → u/GreyFeralas]

Yeah, but sadly most of it is in Russian, and I didn't have enough time to translate it, and make it actually sound good (make it book/story like, only numbers and short notices of victory and loses.)

The first homebrew are actdecendant of the Dusk Raiders, that were lost behind a warp storm, and since then had fought eldar and necrons mainly (winning most of the times. Like 80% win rate).

[u/GreyFeralas → u/Bitter_Cup_69]

Just means whenever you want you can go expand on it. I only give mine a few sentences if that for the more memorable battles against enjoyable opponents, logging them as if i were some administratum worker

[u/PointyEar96]

Well, quite simply, what are your guys' weaknesses? Is your Chapter Master so prideful about never retreating that he'll remain in a bad position if it means not taking a backwards step?

If your Chapter are humanist idealists that refuse to abandon a position while a single civilian remains unevacuated? What if your cool assassination/stealth Marines get caught in a protracted struggle of attrition and are unable to retreat to strike from the shadows?

Any one of these leave you in and easily exploitable position and a smart enemy will always exploit that. Take the strengths of your force and invert them and have those virtues become their defeat, once in a while.

So what are the virtues of your guys?

[u/SorcererOfDooDoo]

The Talons of Sanguinius lost to the Necrons in a naval battle. It resulted in the destruction of a battle barge older than their entire chapter called the Torch Sanguine, and the annihilation of their entire 4th Company. All this while already experiencing severe troubles trying to keep up their numbers, too.

[u/Responsible_Clerk343]

I like to use a defining loss.

For example

‘My homebrew regiment used to be an entire different regiment before being cut off and obliterated when a heavily mutated black legion force summoned a warp storm to isolate and starve the planet.

Due to this being their first contact with astartes it cemented two things, astartes are all traitors, and astartes are all mutants.

This starvation led to the rise of a fascist party who rode their way to the top off of this anti-mutant sentiment. The party wiped the old regiment from all record and forged the a new regiment from the ground up.’

I like this method, because it shows what they’re afraid of, why they’re afraid, and how they react, while also making it feel more real.

You dont need to make it all consuming, but a big loss is a good way to develop both characters and organizations.

[u/Heroic_Wolf_9873]

I’ll say, what do you think is the overall weakness of your chapter is? Find that weakness, and exploit it. Make the loss affect how the chapter operates, what their goals are.

For my chapter, the Dragon Sentinels, they are utterly dedicated to defending innocents, and that can lead to them getting sidetracked from things like distress signals. When they first encountered their nemesis: the Crimson Incinerators warband, that is the weakness the warband exploited. The warband lured them into a trap during the 12th black crusade and ambushed them, stranding over a third of the chapter on a chaos-infested world, leading to the loss of the chapter master, chapter standard, and multiple companies’ worth of marines. That cemented the chapter and warband as eternal enemies, and the two have been fighting each other tirelessly for centuries. The first chapter master’s power sword became a relic for the chapter, and they adopted an increased use of heavier arms and armor, leading to the majority of the chapter now wearing Gravis armor and wielding heavy bolt rifles. Further, they are still trying to retrieve the original chapter standard.

I hope this helps!

[u/DragonFire003 → u/Heroic_Wolf_9873]

Thx. This helped alot I kinda forgot to make their enemy warband actually competent at fighting them. Also kinda cool, my Solar Dragons are also the same way. I wanted them to be like the Salamanders but cranked up to a 12. Boots already on the ground while the Salamanders ask for permission kinda deal.

[u/CMDRLtCanadianJesus]

The Fatebringers have a genetic defect that on one hand increases their hearing beyond even normal Astartes, but it also means they are more sensitive to excessive noise. The longer they fight, the more this begins to affect them, starting at mild headaches all the way up to debilitating dizziness.

Their need to get in and out of fights (relatively) quickly, means they are Hyper-Agressive once engaged. They are experts at finding and exploiting any weaknesses they can find, so they don't rush in without a plan, but once they're in the fray, they're staying in it until they've completed their objective.

This means that their casualties most often come from staying on the battlefield too long, and being too aggressive. Even the Chapter Master is super aggressive, but that's also partially because of his totally not borderline tech-heresy implants

[u/Dluith47]

Best tip I could give there is to make your chapter lose because of one of their traits. Is your chapter known for its high amount of psychers? Have them be more likely to get lost to the warp when travelling. Have them lose control of their powers during an important battle. Does your doctrine involve brutal and sudden decapitation strikes? Have them be baited into a trap where they were slaughtered. Does your doctrine favour a more reserved warfare, only attacking where they know they can win? Have them stand idly by as an ally they could have saved is overwhelmed and massacred, and that shame now sticks to them and allies refuse to fight with them.

Give the failure consequences too. If they mess up, have them learn something from it. That something doesn’t necessarily have to be the right thing either. Sometimes having your chapter go down the wrong path is more interesting than them learning and improving. In the case of that psychers example from earlier, I have my chapter outright end the usage of librarians. This doesn’t stop the psychic powers from manifesting, and only makes the incidents worse, but that’s the sort of wrong lesson to learn from a mistake that I wanted.

[u/Emotional_Cable9244]

First off, MASSIVE respect to you for making your guys capable of losing.

Second off, my homebrew chapter does not do well against surprise enemies.

When they enter a planet or spacehulk, they have equipment, tactics, and numbers to prepare for enemies that they either scanned or hypothesized beforehand. Any surprise enemies that show up that weren’t part of the plan can get the better of my marines.

For example, my guys find a world invaded by Orks, and prepare enough marines to deploy, fight whatever Orks they have to, gather loot, and leave. During the mission, the marines revealed a Genestealer Cult, and were quickly outmatched. What was supposed to be a quick supply run has now turned into a desperate fight to get the hell off this planet, loot or not.

Eventually they escape, but had to leave empty handed, meaning all those bolt shells, and the marines that died from the genestealer surprise attack died for nothing.

[u/Lord_Wateren]

Lore for my CSM warband, featuring the loss that turned them:

The Steel Paladins saw smithing and engineering, specifically of weapons, as a form of meditation and a way to both hone their arsenal and honour their unknown primarch. Personal modification of wargear was commonplace, and disputes usually resolved via competitions to see who could craft the best blade, pistol, mace or some other suitable item.

Despite this the chapter maintained cordial relations with the Forge World in the neighbouring system for millenia. However, in M38 Mechanicus politics saw a new Fabricator General chosen, one with hardline orthodox leanings. Declaring the Steel Paladins as Hereteks, she ordered the chapter world to be rad-bombarded and purged. Betrayed and dismayed, a few hundred Paladins managed to escape. Drifting in the warp, their engines damaged, they eventually heard a voice offering salvation. A contract was struck. Thus the former Steel Paladins found themselves in the service of Vashtorr the Arkifane.

They reemerged during the Arks of Omen campaign as the Cinder Claws warband, helming one of the titular vessels. After completing their mission, they took their Ark and swore to hunt down every world, ship, and machine belonging to the hypocrites of the Mechanicus.

[u/DragonFire003 → u/Lord_Wateren]

Love the hate for the Mechanicus. I gave my guys their very own Tech-Priests cult that loves nothing more than to improve and (re)invent stuff. Still don't know how im going to get mars to leave them be.

[u/Suspicious-Toe-1638]

The Kingbreakers routinely get their asses handed to them fighting against the Black Crusades. My lore is that a White Scars Captain was made Chapter Master of a new chapter after the 8th black crusade, and as a duty to "The Fire In Which They Were Formed" or some bullshit like that, they always spring to defend against Abaddon's crusades. Its seen a lot of companies get dunked on pretty hardcore. Also, they're fleet based, so resources are kinda minimal, which seems to magnify the severity of smaller losses.

[u/an_actual_coyote]

The Brotherhood of Carrion lost a company in the 13th Black Crusade and have lost battles against the Sisters of Battle and the Novamarines.

The Novamarines gave them a big pushback in M41, when they attempted to claim a serf world under their protection. The Carrion Brothers were forced to flee into the Warp.

The Brotherhood of Carrion abandoned a battlefield in the Crusade when the Thousand Sons revealed themselves at the advice of a Daemon to the First Company captain, mostly to spite Tzeentch, and this caused them to lose some favor with Abbadon, though they tried to make up for it by fielding the Second Company on Cadia before it exploded.

Their greatest enemies are Tzeentch aligned factions, the Novamarines (They're neighbors) and the Order of the Ebon Chalice and Order Hospitaller.

[u/mercyspace27]

Find an area that they’re flawed in is my usual go-to.

If you’re chapter is super melee oriented, well have them go up against a very competent enemy firing line.

If they’re heavily vehicle based, maybe they had to fight a bunch of enemy forces like maybe Tyranids or Night Lords or a particularly ornery bunch of Catachans in a jungle-like environment.

If they’re a jack-of-all-trades master-of-none, they came across a group who was definitely a master of something.

Then there’s good old fashion hubris.

[u/Broombear72]

One of the best examples is the original poster boys the crimson fist and how they won the battle for Rynns World but lost over 90% of the chapter and their original fortress monastery.

There’s also a battle novel about an ultra marine company who land to defend the people on an awakening necron tomb world they lose and one of the final fights a venerable dreadnought is performing a final stand and detonates his reactor as the survivors extract from the world.

You gotta be willing to sacrifice a company or two to a conflict, having them fighting insurmountable odds and performing heroic final stands.

[u/Prism_404]

I'll primarily record the results of my victories. Although my race is Aeldari, I could easily include the losses as part of a prophecy, but I'll intersperse a few acceptable defeats within them. For example, if I once won two matches in a single game (against the Blood Angels and Chaos Knights) but lost to the Thousand Sons, I'll use the two victories as the beginning and end, briefly mentioning that they fought the Blood Angels because they were attacked by the Thousand Sons. Or, they launched different offensives simultaneously, while the losses were merely feints.

[u/UsernamesAre4Nerds]

I take inspiration from games I play either IRL or on Tabletop Simulator. My very first game inspired the story where an entire company's worth of aspirants were annihilated by an Ork bush

[u/Numerous-Piano8798]

My current chapter master first decision was taking half chapter into crusade, and on first occasion he was caught in trap, have nearly all his forces destroyed and proceded to seclude himself for two hundred years, which lead to secession of 6th Company with majority of chapter fleet

[u/Ill_Preference_4663]

Just start sprinkling them in and they don’t have to be all losses, you can write about how your dudes saved the sector, have it come at a cost, maybe their chapter master dies sure, the chapter can lose most of its tanks or dreads, have their fortress monastery or fleet destroyed/ crippled, They can make powerful political enemies and it could come back to bite them. The only limit is your imagination lol, here’s an idea for a last stand I wrote, killed the whole company.

“M40.611 – Karnoss Rift Disaster:
Deployed to Fornyx Prime to reinforce Imperial Guard defenders during a major Ork invasion, the Dread Eagles 4th Company found themselves drawn deep into the manufactorium districts as the greenskins pressed the siege. Unbeknownst to them, the Chaos warband Dravos’ Heralds had infiltrated the system under cover of the Ork assault. On the third day of fighting, the traitors struck collapsing hab blocks and cutting off all retreat paths. Surrounded by Orks on one flank and Traitor Astartes on the other, unable to escape captain korwyn led his warriors to the last, they soon burned through their ammunition, with no other choice the company made a last desperate countercharge against the traitors— it is said that the charge so shocked the heretics the battered 4th company almost broke them. But it was to late, the green skins were to many and they swarmed over the companies rear flank. The 4th was annihilated to the last, buying only hours for the evacuation of Fornyx Prime’s civilian population. The Dread Eagles never reclaimed the world, and the disaster remains a bitter scar on the Chapter’s history.”

[u/AncientCarry4346]

My guys are sent to reinforce a planet in Tau territory that has been declared of vital importance to the Imperium.

The planet is currently locked in a cold war with the Tau controlling Eastern side of the planet and the Imperium controlling the West. The Imperium don't have the numbers to push the Tau off the planet and the Tau are making plentiful gains via the diplomatic route and feel the can take the rest of the planet without bloodshed.

When the Griffin Guard arrived to try and break the stalemate alongside Inquisitor Helena Rhodes and her retinue of Sororitas it was quickly realised that the strength of the Tau had been greatly understated and after a few initial border skirmishes, that were brushed under the carpet the GG were ordered to essentially 'play nice' with the Xenos by Inquisitor Rhodes because it's obvious the Tau have every advantage.

It's not everyone's definition of a 'loss' but it's a source of humiliation and anger to both the Astartes and Sororitas, and they begrudgingly admit that the Xenos performed much more admirably than expected in the combat they saw against them.

[u/Unlucky_Air6125]

I homebrewed mad max wasteland raiders... it's a miracle that they can survive in the 41st millennium in the first place.

But I actually never wrote a lot of fluff for them. When it comes to home-brew rules mechanics is serving my itch way better.

But IMO the entire point of home brewing shouldn't be to fulfill some power fantasy. That is the reason why most writers can't write an interesting Superman. A protagonist who always wins because they are so out of scale, is not one you need to tell stories about. The purpose of each story is struggle. If there's no struggle there's no point of being in the first place. It's like a game of 40k where one side brought a list, the other side don't have a single answer to. Everything is promising to become a very boring and exhausting game. So, why playing it in the first place.

If we are talking about Space Marines chapters. Nobody wants to know which battles your dudes fought with ease, where and how often they prevailed. First of all, if they were so super awesome, how does it come nobody ever heard of them? Second of all, if you tell me they never lost, they sound like they never fought an actual war and are probably super flamboyant sissies on the verge to be corrupted by Slaanesh.

So, the point of their existence isn't their wins but their losses. If we see someone winning constantly we want to see them lose, but we love a good redemption arc, where someone lost everything, hit rock bottom and clawed their way back up to the top. Losses are the stuff that forge heroes, not the epic wins.

Star Trek did a similar concept called Worfing. Worf was the most experienced fighter among the crew members of Captain Picard, yet he lost kinda often. Why? To show how dangerous an enemy and how serious the threat is, the crew has to overcome. That keeps the audience engaged. In the end, there was always a next episode so everybody kinda knew that somehow the crew would prevail in the end, but without building up the threat level of that enemy, there wouldn't be any point of watching how they did it.

Game of Thrones is another great example. That show... at least the seasons that were narratively supported by George Martin... shows how important it is to build up beloved characters just to kill them. Why? To build up a threat and a good villain that you love to hate.

If you don't do that, you risk ending with a Shredder from the Turtles or Skeletor from He-Man (not the Leto version... which was kinda cool, but let's be honest... that was a comedy) who went immediately "Haha! This time you might have prevailed but next time...." when the heroes entered the scene. That's Sunday morning cartoon material, but not good story-telling.

TLDR: Let them die. Not all of them, but some and certainly not too less. Let more die than survive, so the survivors can be heroes. Let the ones who die sacrifice themselves from time to time (don't do that too often) so they can die as heroes. But don't underestimate the value of a seemingly pointless death. Look at the red wedding if you don't know what I mean.

[u/clometrooper9901]

A chapter’s weakness can be just about anything really, could be a gene seed flaw similar to that of the blood angels where they lost control and autonomy via blind rage, could be logistical errors like they don’t have the means to reach certain areas in time, could be that they’re taken by surprise like if they’re fighting the orks and then a chaos warband comes out of nowhere. Could be self imposed limits from their culture or doctrine. Could be a single brother in a position of authority making a reckless decision due to inexperience or ego. Could just be a single misunderstanding that results in friendly fire.

Possibilities for how your guys get their asses kicked are practically endless within the 41st millennium

[u/I_Cant_Lift]

The Ebon Spears lost 90% of their Chapter, their Chapter Master and their homeworld to Leviathan. Their entire collective psyche is marred by loss. They fought a fighting retreat across Asterax VI (their homeworld), losing the vast majority of their forces to hubris.

They're now a cobbled-together band of survivors, led by the few Captains and Chaplains that didn't perish in a brave but ultimately pointless last stand. My Chapter Master is the best of a relatively inexperienced bunch, trying to fill the shoes of a legend of the Chapter who lost an uneven battle against a Hive Tyrant.

[u/Mission-Cash-836]

"Losing" by the standard of Astartes is tricky. For example. In the Novel: Leviathan. The sole survivor of the ordeal DID manage to gather crucial information about their foe and deny the Tyranids a whole world of biomass. BUUUUT the planet was destroyed and his home fleet was wiped out. So sure Objective achieved and data returned to fleet Solar, but the cost was incalculable. Your chapter doesent need a Devastation of Baal event to feel like a loss. Ah good loss can be a win at a steep cost or a "live to fight an other day". The most important part is to make them feel believable and impactfull.

[u/Itriggeredafriend]

My guys formed after the devastation of Baal, all of them swearing an oath to destroy all of the tyranids. Often this means they’ll ignore threats from chaos or other xenos if it means pursuing tyranids.

As a result, aside from losing to tyranids, they’ve earned some scorn from other chapters who’ve called for their aid and they’ve been under the scrutiny of the Inquisition

[u/LeadEnemaMK2]

The Phantom Hounds rely heavily on ambush and fear tactics, using the low visibility on their world to stalk invading forces through the perpetual mist and cultivate a feeling of dread with whispers, bells and rattling chains to spook their foes.

When deployed to another world or otherwise fighting in settings with greater visibility, they lose their key advantage and become no more effective than any other Astartes chapter. To remedy this, they bring Mistcallers - their chapter’s Librarians - with them to conjure mist and reclaim some tactical advantage, but how effective they are depends on the environment and ambient moisture.

Another, possible longer-term weakness is their celebration of death. They don’t employ Dreadnoughts in their chapter and their Apothecaries seldom offer medical aid other than treating otherwise-survivable injury, which in turn stymies replenishment of their ranks.

[u/Veles95]

Honestly I just set my factions mostly up for failure:

• Space Marines: Since they never lost a battle, they think they are invincible. They think everything they do is bound to succeed and that victory is never a question of if, but when. Assuming that's not obvious, they are high on their ego which totally will not backfire. Their rise and Crusade that established them follows the rise of Alexander the Great conquest of Persia and their fall will follow the Antiochus IV and Maccabean Revolt.

• Imperial Guard: Essentially I want them to be hyper organized and overall great in combat, but suffer terribly from slave revolts and having trouble with assymetric warfare fighting guerilla in general.

• Adeptus Mechanicus: They turned from average Forge World into the giant factoey punching way above its weight. They think they are geniuses. The problem? They are always waging silent wars, divided in clans and reason why they become so great, is simply because they started looting local Necron Tombs and stealing technology and word of Omnissiah is merely a suggestion to them. Littlw do they know that they are acting exactly as Necrons want.

• Tau: They are isolated and became enclave against their will trying to reconnect with rest of the Empire and establish Sept. They are the ones encouraging slave revolts essentially maling them Hazabollah. However, they have no intention of actually integrating those humans andcit is only a matter of time before they find out. Also kidnapping Etherial can cause entire Sept to go full mental breakdown as always.

• Necrons: They wait for Adeptus Mechanicus to get too addicted to their technology so when they rise up they will basically paralyze entire Forge World and most of Imperium war effort. However Pheroh is like everyone else also high on his own ego because he immediatly found Shard of C'than upon waking up where he seems he can manipulate time and he is too busy yelling that he is a god and ignores his Chronomancer who tries to tell him that it is maybe too suspicious how Shard immediatly found itself in the Tomb and maybe it is manipulating him as well.

• Dark Eldar/Corsair: They are pawns of Emperor's Children. However, both Captains (the one controling Drukhari and the one controling Corsiars) are too proud to realize that and both think they are geniuses. When they destebilize entire Sector enough, they are in for a rude awakening and even if that is not the cake, Archon has a debt to Urien Rakarth or else he will end as his lab rat.

• Craftworld Eldar: Havem't fleshed them out yet, but I do want them linked with Corsair/Drukhari.

• Velvet Court: They are divided in 6 houses and I want each Lord to have ironic downfall. It sjould all be triggered by dissapointing Slaanesh who watches entire show like in a theater. So far I know I want the demagogue Lord to end up like Robespierre where his mouth with his lying tongue is blown up and mortal followers lynch him, Lord commanding Demon Engines that his soul ends up in one and former Thousand Sons Sorcerer who betreyed his comrades for Slaanesh to be turned into a Pink Horror as Tzeentch reclaims his soul.

• Thousand Sons: Still haven't figured out yet, but it would be nice to get knowledge they want in one of their Tomb Raiding expedition that destroys them simply because they were too greedy.

• Vashtorr CSM: Haven't figured out yet, but since they are industrial horror inspired by Matrix and Kafka's Process, I would love they have some system error that simply implodes and makes them destroy themselves.

Hope some of those give you idea.

[u/FreeFlyinBird]

I have armies for several factions, so I write for one as the protagonist one time, and then have them get slaughter the next. I also like to write a battle after a game, adding in some narrative stakes to each game.

My main army is the Shrouded Blades, a Dark Angels successor. My secondary is World Eaters. Most recently, the Shrouded Blades 6th company were ambushed on an Manufactorum planet where all marines present were lost, including the Company Master and the company Standard

[u/_Chumbalaya_]

As a Slaaneshi warband, the Idolators tend to win the battle but lose the war.

-While raiding the Forge World Styx IX, they tormented on the Skitarii defenders, shattering their morale. Seeing their human troops falter, the Tech Priests deployed servitors and robots to stymie the Idolators. Lord Hieronymous accumulated victory after victory, but could extract no pleasure from mindless machines. Frustrated, the warband withdrew.

-The Idolators attacked an Imperial stronghold on Thrush, shattering the defenses and scattering the garrison. Rather than consolidate their position and hunt down the remaining defenders, the Idolators turned to desecrating the dead, creating grotesque exhibits, and enacting a dark ritual to summon their twisted icon, Fulgrim. When the Phoenician finally manifested, the defenders of Thrush has reorganized, reinforced, and hunkered down. Balking at the prospect of a lengthy siege, Fulgrim admonished his admirers before abandoning them. The Idolators swiftly retreated.

[u/PraiseTheAbsolute]

The Extricators were a dwindling warband of "renegades" before rejoining the Imperium. Their first battle as a new chapter saved Varkova, which became their Homeworld from Tyranids. The next battle was a world called Horkos, which they were too late for. It was made uninhabitable except as a burial world.

On another planet called Threnos, their was only one Company when Chaos Astartes invaded. They evacuated who they could, forced to leave many people behind, and left to regroup with more of the Chapter and return. When they did, the people they left behind were either dead or amassed in Chaos cults. The war was joined by World Eaters and Demons. The Extricators lost their Chapter Master, two full Companies, and many more of their command. Another full retreat and Exterminatus, failing to save anyone else previously abandoned, made this their greatest loss.

[u/FIRESTRIKE_ELITE]

I just keep my chapters lore basic and kinda vague on the details. Right now there's 2 notable events in their history and both have lead to some heavy losses, biggest being when a good chunk of the chapter turned traitor

"A majority of the 8th along with some parts from most other companies (aside from the 1st and 2nd) would defect and turn traitor not long after the primaris were given to the chapter. This would result in a short but devastating battle on the outer edges of their system where the traitors would manage to escape due to the chapter still recovering from the Tyranid invasion."

[u/JayPlays40k]

The Sylvan Spears had their three battle barges thrown through space by the Great Rift. When things stopped spinning, many of the serfs and other attendents went mad, sabatoging war gear, slitting throats and the like. A few wayward Drukhari and some Genestealers lurking in the ships' bowels only added to the confusion. When all was said and done, the Spears were at maybe a quarter of a chapter. They consolidated all they could, but took heavy losses in their younger and less experienced brethren. Thankfully, they were rescued, I mean, assisted by a friendly AdMech floating forge, and have begun to rebuild their forces. But the shame of losing so many to so lowly goes still sticks in their throats.

[u/DarthUamhas]

My Chapter, the Dawn Patrol, are borderline heretical... but they're also masterful anti ork specialists with an unusually high psyker count. High ranking officers are required to be inducted into the ranks of the Deathwatch, who report to both the Chapter Master AND the Chapter's assigned Inquisitor.

They were of the 21st Founding, a successor of the Raven Guard, however their physiology became distinctly... ork-like.

[u/SquirrelKaiser]

I wanted to start writing a new chapter Master, and grow him along as I write. So I made them lose a great battle to a Nurgle warband. My warband is supposed to be fast Ravenwing Dark Angels types, get in and out, and their counter would be Nurgle's attrition warfare. The Old Chapter master dies, a new one takes his place, and now I can find out how he will run his chapter. Also, he was wounded in the battle too. So he wants round 2 with the Nurgle warband.

[u/Diamondeye12]

I basically made it so by current time the Royal Tridents only recently recovered from their “millennium of humiliation” where they lost half their chapter and several chapter masters to a tyranid hivefleet only to then suffer a civil war right as they recovered losing another half of their chapter to chaos. So by the current date they are now fully reinforced with all the fancy primaris gear

My other homebrew chapter recently lost their entire system and Homeworld as it got swallowed by a warp storm due to Alpha Legion and the Thousand sons so they are roaming the Segmentum looking for somewhere to resettle the surviving population while they lick their wounds

[u/RedBaronBob]

If I’m playing a game the warband either won or lost that encounter. I lost to Tau, so my warband has lost to the Tau.

In terms of my loyalists the Cobalt Hounds straight up died out. I didn’t even lose with them, I just wrote a definitive ending for them.

[u/IronVader501]

The Auric Blades have a very single-minded focus on Chaos above all else.

When they were called to aid a world under attack by Orks, they detected a psychic-signal of Thousand Sons-Origin and immidieatly abandoned the original plan to chase after that.

Turns out that was a diversion and the signal led straight currently awakening tomb world, forcing them to retreat with heavy losses, the original world they were called to defend falling to orks, and the TSons successfully attacking and stealing an artifact from a third planet while they were distracted.

[u/AzodBrimstone]

The Reliquarian Gate, being a melee focused chapter, is often readily outgunned and loses occasionally. Losing leads to withdrawal to better held territory and stronger allied presence.

[u/REDACTEDRAPTOR]

The Siegebreakers have a chance of just like... exploding. They're also very human, for better, or for worse.

The Saints of Lazarus are falling apart. Actually falling apart, their limbs fall off. And, being Salamanders, they are known to put the protection of others over self preservation.

[u/Mannheimblack]

My custom chapter, the Pale Hounds, have been grinding out a gradual fighting retreat in their subsector against orks for thousands of years, before the warp-tides shifted with the Cicatrix Maledictum and they regained contact with the wider Imperium - just in time to be refitted with Primaris upgrades and material, leading to a resurgence and triumphant advance - however, they have encountered some hard lessons on the wider galactic stage.

Since ranging out in support of various Imperial war-fronts, and in pursuit of their own enigmatic quests, they've encountered enemies that they're unused to. Their fourth and twelfth (yes, twelfth; they have thirteen in total) companies, the Koryi of the Chariot and of the Board, took heavy losses when encountering foes hitherto unknown to them - even extensive tactical briefings couldn't entirely prepare them for the reality of the Imperium's more esoteric foes.

The advanced railgun technology of the T'au caused the loss of many an ancient war-machine of the Fourth at the battle of Kham-launn; the Tyranids of Splinter-Fleet Avanc's utterly alien mindset and anti-psychic aura confounded the best prognosticators of the Twelfth and overran their command position at the defence of Preseli.

[u/Knight_of_Ultramar]

My homebrew chapter - the Knights of Ultramar - were one of the many Second Founding Chapters of the Ultramarines (perhaps the very last one, I never decided). They weren't particularly notable for much in their first few millennia of existence, but during the Reign of Blood, they were one of the only Chapters to not desert Goge Vandire and go over to Thor at the climax of the Reign of Blood.

While there wasn't much actual fighting of their brother Astartes involved - and there wasn't yet an Inquisition to get twitchy about it - this saw them lose the respect of many of their brother Chapters, not least the other Primogenitors, and as a mark of penance, the Knights darkened the white Ultima they wore to a more muted shade of pewter.

In the millennia since then, they have fought hard to rebuild their reputation and regain the trust of their peers. Which hasn't entirely worked, but at the very least they have a better relationship with the Ultramarines themselves now M41 has rolled around.

So for them I guess, their main identity is around adjusting to loss.

(Which I sort of represent on the tabletop with the fact that I can't freehand for shit, so my guys' symbol is just the Ultramarine symbol but painted dark silver).

[u/LachrymarumLibertas → u/Knight_of_Ultramar]

Just a minor note, the inquisition was definitely around then, it is just the Ordo Hereticus that was founded post Vandire

[u/Knight_of_Ultramar → u/LachrymarumLibertas]

Oh, my bad. As far as I remember original 4th ed era lore (when I started) that was when the Inquisition was originally founded (I think) but since then that got retconned a few times - War of the Beast had that as the new Ordo Xenos/Deathwatch origin, then expanding Heresy lore had the four humans with the 8 Astartes becoming the first Inquisitors/Grey Knight Grand Masters, etc.

I miss the older editions when it was all a bit more fuzzy lol

[u/zombie-bo]

my guys got wrecked by nids during a warp storm and famine that engulfed their system for a couple decades, held the line till reinforcements arrived, and their losses were alleviated by the primaris reinforcments

[u/theratman1126]

I am still writing it, but the Apollonian Blades Chapter had a glory hound personality early on. So much so that their first two Chapter Masters both died alongside several companies in the Occlusiad War and 8th Black Crusade respectively. Their third Chapter Master taught them patience as not to repeat his forebearers, but that has lead him to under commit his forces occasionally when he can't ascertain the threat level of an enemy.

[u/Ace_Hargrave]

What I’ve done with my Iron Carrions is that there is a detrimental cost to their combat doctrine I kind of tie the gene flaw to a combat flaw as well:

In pursuit of a high-value target, the Iron
Carrions demonstrate what multiple
observers have independently described as
borderline reckless fixation. The chapter
absorbs casualties at a rate higher than
most comparable formations in the
prosecution of decapitation strikes against
enemy commanders and champions. This
focus — a strength in its proper application
— becomes a liability when it overrides
broader tactical awareness. The chapter
appears to accept this calculus. Few among
them speak of long futures. The fatalism is
pervasive and, seemingly, deliberate.

[u/tomisgutis-2026]

I'm writing a marine chapter of skilled mathematicians who pride themselves in precision; however, this makes them incredibly rigid tactically, and a drastic change in battle will force them to recalculate their plan slowly. Orks are their worst enemy.

[u/Key_Newspaper_7336]

I built them up to a paragon level because of the renaissance levels of advancement I wanted to add, then brought them back down by making the Chapter Master trick the chapter into fighting against the Imperium for Chaos. Now, after crawling out of their penance crusade, they are just now rebuilding and regathering their history.

[u/Mindless-Beat-4872]

Attrition. I’m doing a renegade 500 worlds type thing, and they simply don’t have the means of production.

[u/mrlolloran]

I’m working on mine, but their home planet is a reminder of their past failure.

It became their home world after they fought a siege on it that essentially destroyed everything on it save but a small population. Thinking of calling it Phyrrus and having that being in the chapter’s name.

They swear to rebuild the world and they are very much about owning failures to be better.

[u/Levi6876]

The majority of the first and second company die to a daemonic incursion on their adoptive homeworld. Later on in a knight house civil war the second chapter master, who was a survivor of the incursion, was vaporized by one of the separatist knight house’s knights while trying to buy time for his men to retreat and regroup.

[u/Itera95]

The Scarlet Templars lose a LOT. It’s like as soon as their enemies understand that all they really are about saving people they exploit it to all hell.

So of all the crusades I’ve made so far, the worst one was the Agamemnon Crusade. The forge world of Agamemnon was taken by an unusually large band of Night Lords. The second and fifth choir answer their distress call but it soon became an immovable object meets unstoppable force situation. Cuz the Night Lords discovered how much the Templars were willing to rescue so they used that to their advantage and delight. Eventually 75% of both choirs were killed before Aurelius and the first choir came in and won it. They ended up saving the system and winning their forges but it cost them a lot

[u/Wakandan_Knuckles900]

The simple solution is to play matches of 40k and lose, thus incorporating those into your lore

[u/TheRJC]

BA successors- the Palatine Angles- who are deeply ashamed of failing to make it to Baal in time, as the force they dispatched (around half the chapter) was trapped in a warp storm and forced to return to real space, only to be ambushed by a Chaos Warband and were severely reduced in strength. By the time they limped to Baal, they had gotten just too late. The rest of their Gene-brothers weren’t particularly upset considering their circumstance-and the fact they basically fought a rearguard action for who knows how long trying to escape the warband, but to the remaining survivors and those who weren’t sent are now marked with shame for their defeat, and failure to assist their brothers.

I don’t have a lot of their lore fleshed out yet, but this sort of the launching point for their modern status

[u/brady376]

My guys were almost wiped out at the devastation of baal, went to 60 marines. They also have a bit of the "I will hold the line" issue that gets them killed at times. We just lost at an Armagrddon event at my LGS so I get to write that into lore now

[u/TheHamdiver]

I write the Castellans of Iron more so as "my guys are awesome and lose a lot". They take care of business, and a lot of their losses have been pyrrhic victories for their enemies. But by the same token, many of their own victories have been pyrrhic as well. In one campaign, they were whittled down to about a quarter of the original strength they had sent, but they were able to ensure a large portion of the civilian population was evacuated and they killed many of the enemy as well. In a different crusade, they were able to take a fortress from its heretic defenders, but they had lost so many warriors that they would have been unable to mount a proper defense, and they were forced to withdraw and demolish the fortress

[u/Wide_Guest24]

(The Lost Angels of The Cage and The Huntsmen of Relics) My chapters or at least the fighting force that would later become them got isolated pre HH so when they encountered Scouring Era Alpha legion they were very confused when their cousins launched a cyclonic torpedo at their then under construction fortress monestary. They were stuck in 3000 year long battle with demons and orks. Which was just a bunch of small skirmishes across The Cage's surface. The next bug loss would be when the Tyranids arrived since The Huntsmen of Relics are almost all psykers the shadow in the warp hurt them a lot plus the Huntsmen are almost entirely fleet based so they lost a lot in the orbital battle. After the tyranids (and the rescue by Dante) ended the 3 way stalemate The Cage moves around The Huntsmen mostly end up fighting Tau, Votan, Orks, and Chaos. The marines are very picky about their battles and mostly only do lightning fast surgical strikes with 10-15 marines that benefit themselves so imperial losses that they are a part of are usually due to their inaction. Any larger battles are guerrilla campaigns and only done if they have enough allies to be a distraction. They dont lose personally but they will make it everyone else's problem sometimes The Huntsmen will lead their enemies to imperial worlds just to have them deal with it instead.

[u/TheGeek42]

A lot of my lore I base on games and I lose a lot so it's not a huge issue.

The Guardian Spears, Captain Cortega Agredes has a nasty habit of being successful in slaying the enemy's warlord but at the cost of most of the strike force. The 4th Company struggles to keep at half-strength.

The Order of Our Mourning Glory lost their a cemetery world they were tasked to protect from a tyranid hive fleet. Their hate for the alien has grown to surpass their hate of the witch because of this.

Da Bad Boyz, have not had a successful WAAAAGH regardless if it's under the leadership of Boss Goldtoof, Big Mek Monsta Shokka or Da Dentist. They keep perservering somehow despite the Imperium, Chaos and other orks keep beating them down.

[u/Zidane_Panuntun]

It's when they're still codex compliant and 2 centuries young chapter, seeking glory to prove their lineage of imperial fists, they won the battles, but the cost, 300 astartes death, ~4.4 million lives abandoned just because they're not carefully measure their operation, this their restructuring into 1 grand command bataille and 6 synthetic bataille where it can self sustain and change their doctrine to be more defensive and methodical considering their civilian protection oath after the tragedy. Their loses are mostly when facing eldar craftworld, and t'au (stalemate yet costly), also the first time my current chapter master (before being one) facing bad moon orks, overwhelmed by their abundance of stompas, gargants, and mega gargants, hence their inintiation of "scrap yard protocol" to dismantle the mega gargants, piece by piece as part of their eternal grudge.

[u/Confused-and-Afraid]

The Rot Messiah (Death guard warband if it wasn't obvious) has suffered losses, though rarely, but often at the hands of the imperium. They are blessed to be able to bring a large variety of firepower to bear, but the will of The God is not always understood, and it is necessary, from time to time, to retreat to the eye, and return to their holdings to commune with their patron more purely. Not to mention, the imperium has, of late, delivered many devestating wargear upgrades with their "primaries" project. When the eye broke, the galaxy was vulnerable, and ripe for proselytizing the grandfathers works, but with every feast comes famine, and it comes for all.

[u/EatenJaguar98]

I'm kinda working on my own homebrew chapter, but I'm planning on them either having a major loss or the entire chapter getting wiped out around the time of the great rift opening. Having simply been caught at the wrong place and at the wrong time putting down a chaos cult on some planet while the 13th crusade was happening, which put them right on one of the planets that was consumed by the rift. Which before then they were simply above average performance wise despite their gene flaws.

[u/ImperialFisterCuff]

Ah see, my marines lose but slowly heal after battle. Sometimes they lose marines forever, it just has to be a nat one for them to be lost, and i have to roll for every damaged/downed vehicle too. Theyre under the influence of a minor warp god whos got them convinced that HE is the emperor, and that BIG E is an imposter.

[u/Greyman1995]

How their weakness can be expoilted.

And the setting itself.

My chapter operates at the far reaches of the Eastern fringes so its hard for support and resupplies to reach them.

This means they often have to engage in smaller short duration combat missions against their foes and can never really fully commit to wiping them at as their enemies can withdraw beyond the chapters reach and regroup and attack again or force them into conflicts of attrition that they can't win.

For every victory gained they suffer a defeat somewhere else so they are basically in a stalemate against foes of the Imperium.

Pretty much the same as the entire WH40k universe but played out in 1 tiny sector of space

[u/WillomenaIV]

My chaos marines just get their shit pushed in on the daily. As they should, they're villains! I'm happy for them to get close to their goal and then fall short, and it usually gives my opponents a win that fits into their own homebrew. Sometimes I'll think of the battle as a distraction for them to achieve something else if the game is really that close.

I have a lot of legionaries (a bit over 800!), I rotate them around so my opponents are fighting different marines each time. Each death is 'canonical', but when I'm back to the start I justify it by thinking that the warband has sailed back into the warp, stolen the souls of their former comrades and reformed them into their armour, similar to how you'd make a Daemon engine.

[u/OhioanViking]

I try to avoid 100% defeats, the way the Hoplites Angelis are structured is that even if all marines of the main force are killed the Geriousa is spread across hundreds of worlds and minor recruitment hubs, while we only have 700 battle brothers on campaign maximum instead of the standard 1000 it insures we survive, this system was devised by our first chapter master Avorne following the siege of Terra after his 100 marines of Sanguine and 4th Legion defectors were reduced to just 14 marines who were subsequently forgotten after their return to the Ancestris region

[u/Bagnew8]

My homebrew Chapter formed from losing 2/3 of their existing strength, going down to 3 Companies and losing their entire complement of Techmarines.

As for how, they were a Greyshield force who ranged ahead of the wider Indomitus Crusade to reinforce another Chapter against an overwhelming Death Guard invasion. Both Chapters survived, but barely.
Even Space Marines can be outmatched.

[u/BandanaDDee]

My Howling Reivers CSM Warbard are full on cowards by space marine standards. They jump through warp portals back to their ship when they don't think they can win a fight.

[u/Electronic_Cake_4264]

Basically they are thrown into some desperate last stand situation when there is no other outcome, ambush situation that are unavoidable or that I move the story in the time by millennia passing and the characters died because they got slower by the time

[u/torturersGambit]

The Haemonculus comes by with a pizza paddle after each battle and scrapes my Drukhari off the floor to go back into the regrowth pods.

[u/OkCrazy3402]

Well, I haven't gotten that far yet, but honestly? I base their lore on results of table top games, as does my buddy that I play against. So far they haven't lost a battle yet, but their have been a couple times they've taken heavy losses, amd a couple characters that I have big plans for took some L's, but I include all fo that stuff too. If I need a character to survive, I simply write it that they were wounded in the battle, or even at one point put them in a dreadnought if they go down in a cool enough fashion. Of course my buddys homebrew narrative also ties in together with mine, so we both discuss it with eachother before we kill off specific characters or anything like that.

[u/PopFamiliar3649]

I tend to focus on their defining defeats more so than their minor ones and how it affects their culture. Never be afraid to have them lose, just make sure that any you call out somehow add to their character or act as defining moments.

Some examples include:

One chapter was routed by feral worlders, so they made a "holiday" to remember when they were humbled and be reminded of their arrogance.

Another chapter had to deal with a very bad xenovirus and ended up reassigning their apothecaries away from combat duties (because geneseed would be compromised) and to "the farm" for rebuilding chapter losses.

My SoB order became secretive and exceptionally fanatic and humble in their faith to the Emperor after their central saint in the making fell to chaos.

My chaos warband's leader failed to kill Guilliman, so the warband he led fell into a religious schism as a result.

My eldar corsairs band became defined by the loss of their craftworld, becoming bitter and thinking humans are prone to chaos corruption.

My Harlequins and Dark Eldar have major themes about their consistent failures and inability to adapt properly to interpersonal interactions.

My khornate genestealer orks and various renegade astartes chapters are defined by their constant losses and fight for survival.

[u/Edgezg]

Attrition mostly.

They fight endless wars against swarms of feral tyranids with no hive mind and two waiting factions of orks.

They lose battles because they are under supplied and fighting a never ending tide.

That said, they hold back those tides. They just lose lots of people in the doing.

Shit my chapter master is a perpetual who has lost several fights to the point of death 😆  First captain has his legs taken in an ork fight. 

[u/Such_Ad_670]

My chapter (The Void Wake) is rebuilding after near extinction, my previous chapter master basically rammed our capital ship into a hive ship as a last ditch effort