Warhammer 40K: The Brazen Claws of the Second Founding
The Second Founding created a TON of Space Marine Chapters and today we’re taking a look a one with a notable quartered paint scheme – The Brazen Claws!
Ah the Brazen Claws! Their bright Red and dark blue color scheme always jumps out at me when I look at the various Space Marine color plates. But other than their bold color scheme, what you know about the chapter? It’s a Seconding Founding Chapter – which is to say it’s a post Horus-Heresy chapter and therefore would have a long and glorious history of (almost) 10,000 years of fighting for the Imperium, right? But who was the parent chapter? Who’s their Chapter Master? Homeworld? What about that glorious history?
If you’re drawing a blank that’s okay. Today, we’re going to take a closer look at this bold (or perhaps brazen) chapter.
The Brazen Claws are successor chapter of the Iron Hands Space Marines and are considered a “Codex Chapter” with a minor exception for their company colors. That means their Primarch is Ferrus Manus (who is indeed dead) and also explains their naming convention as claw is related to a hand…vaguely. At least they didn’t go with a metallurgical component to their name, too.
Originally hailing from the planet Talus IV, their homeworld was destroyed by a daemon invasion and the Chapter had to abandon it. Forced to flee from Chaos, this clearly left a mark on their record and also really fired-up the chapter. Instead of falling back to a place of safety to regroup they instead launched a Crusade against the Forces of Chaos. A noble idea but a brazen implementation as they decided to charge into the Eye of Terror to “earn vengeance” against the forces of Chaos. Talk about some lofty goals…
As you might of guessed it did not end well.
“The crusade turned out to be a disaster, with many hundreds of battle brothers dying for little gain. Some Captains abandoned the crusade, seeing little worth in it and wishing to rebuild the Chapter. Others were killed in noble, but ultimately meaningless combat on daemon worlds. Worse still, several companies turned from the Emperor’s light and embraced Chaos. Following twenty years of defeat and Pyrrhic victories, Chapter Master Caul Engentre ordered the chapter to return to the Imperium and rebuild. Just as the remaining companies were boarding their ships, an ambush was launched and a dozen warships and two full companies of traitor Brazen Claws jumped in system and attacked. The result of the battle is unclear.”
Oops. Well, if you live, you learn? The chapter was described as fallen – but that’s a tad iffy. They were reported to be fighting against the forces of Chaos and actually helped to defend Cadia during the 13th Black Crusade. But we all know how that turned out.
Whoops. Well, in anycase, they are indeed still around and do fight for the Imperium otherwise why would GW keep putting them in the Space Marine Codexes?! Plus they have Primaris Marines and we certainly don’t have any Renegade Primaris running around. They have a battle record that puts them in some of biggest campaigns in the history of the Imperium – War of the Beast, the 13th Black Crusade and other various crusades aiding their brothers in the Iron Hands.
We learned this maneuver from our BRAZEN brothers.
Jokes aside, when it comes to painting challenges, the Brazen Claws ranks up there for Space Marines. Their quartered paint scheme looks great when done well but presents quite a challenge with it’s dark blue and bright red. Any mistakes will stand out and that’s perhaps why you don’t see too many of them running around the tabletop. Thankfully GW has put out a painting tutorial for those of you who wish to tackle this painting challenge.
If you’re feeling up for it – or if you just want to run an Iron Hands Successor Chapter that’s not Black and Silver, why not give this chapter a go? What could possibly go wrong?
Charging into the Eye of Terror? That’s a bold strategy let’s see if it pays off.
