[Storm Reavers] Heinrich the Black

Heinrich the Black, Captain of the Teutonic Order- “The Black Knight”

“A full honor guard would be neither diplomatic nor sufficient. Should the Ultramarines wish to parlay with true intentions, a show of force will quickly provoke them. Should they seek to betray us and ensnare me upon my arrival, even a unit of my best will be unable to break past so many. No, instead I shall take Heinrich and Heinrich alone. The Black Knight will not be constrained by either consideration.”

-Lord Lagrath, responding to the Bastion Council’s protests for a rare venture off-planet












Heinrich (Hine-rick) the Black, almost always referred to as simply the Black Knight, is the single-largest space marine in the Storm Reavers chapter, outranking even Kreutz the Mountain when in full Tactical Dreadnaught armor. His name stems from his Terminator suit, an obsidian carapace decorated with blue crystals forming hymns of absolution and piety dedicated to the Emperor. The armor is one of the finest produced yet by the Consortium, and was presented to Heinrich upon his elevation to Captain of the Teutonic Order.

Although Heinrich serves under the authority of a Council Master (as with all Captains in the Storm Reavers), Lord-Chaplain Kane’s berserker-like nature has little patience for anything outside the bounds of holy combat. As a result, the Black Knight enjoys virtually complete autonomy over the chapter’s substantial terminator corps. The Teutonic Order has, in contrast to the Tactical Dreadnaught squads enjoyed by other chapters, an overwhelming emphasis on assault squads necessitated by the yearly Tyranid assaults of the Reaving. This suits Heinrich perfectly, as he remains the only space marine in the history of the chapter massive and powerful enough to grapple with a Carnifex bare-handed. His existence is a great fortune for the Storm Reavers, who are forced to endure countless numbers of the gargantuan beasts on Kalt ever since the chapter’s founding. One of the few moments that can still warm the dark giant’s blood is the sensation of counter-charging into a barreling Carnifex and impacting in a shower of gore and bone. It is said that the only time the Black Knight has ever been laid low was during a Reaving numerous years ago, when isolated to a cornered section of the Wall outside the Citadel and charged suddenly by a trio of tusked Carnifexes. When the jump-pack-borne Lightning Knights arrived quickly thereafter to extract his mangled body from the carnage, legend has it they found one of the huge beasts broken in the snow, another dead-limp with its head completely buried in the Wall itself, and the third wounded with Glacierfall deep in its ribcage. Upon recovery, Heinrich undertook a three-year penitence crusade to absolve himself for letting the sacred weapon slip from his grasp, personally accompanying Lord-Commander Gottfried on his extermination patrols though the Under-Ice. When he returned to retake the mantle of command from Lord-Chaplain Kane, Heinrich presented five coffers full of tusked Carnifex heads to the deafening cheers of his assembled Order.

Whether the Heinrich’s sheer size is a product of pure chance, a blessing from the Emperor, or the result of the Conglomerate’s continued gene-seed experimentation underneath the Citadel is a matter of guesswork known to none to none save perhaps the highest-ranking members of the chapter.


Glacierfall: Even amongst the technological treasure cove of mechanical wizardy and sealed artifacts uncovered beneath the Citadel’s vaults within the last eight-hundred years, Glacierfall easily stands out as the single most powerful weapon ever discovered by the chapter. Capable of sundering a land raider in a single blow, this gigantic hammer appears to have been forged from materials long since lost to man and has proven completely impenetrable to all tests conducted by the tech-marines and librarians of the Conglomerate. The weapon from head to shaft reaches a length almost as tall as space marine in full terminator armor, and it uncertain whether any man will ever again be capable of wielding it after the day the Black Knight breathes his last. As with all artifacts from the Dark Age of Technology unearthed by the chapter, the hammer is from an age before the Imperium of Man and had thus to first be consecrated in the name of the Emperor and blessed by the Omnissiah. It is said that Lord-Commander Horchan himself toiled for one whole year to carefully craft an adamantium eagle to the head of the weapon. When swung with sufficient force, Glacierfall sparks a miniature force-field at its tip similar to a Rosarius, caving in all but the toughest forms of matter before the hammer itself even makes impact. The result is a weapon capable of felling anything short of a Carnifex in a single blow. On the battle-field, Glacierfall’s trajectories appear like a rain of blue comets, exploding white-hot on collision and leaving arcs of turquoise glows in the air. It is a sight more than one enemy of the chapter has come to fear in recent years.

Glacierfall counts as a strength 10 thunder hammer that adds +1 to the vehicle damage table.

Himmelschutz: Upon the retirement of the Storm Reaver’s first Land Raider the Emperor’s Protection, the last of the chapter’s original vehicles, the entire side door of the tank was carefully and reverently removed. The hallowed and ornate slab was further engraved with sculptures of Imperial eagles and emblems of the chapter. Originally intended to serve as an impassive guardian above the Citadel’s gargantuan gates, the massive block immediately caught Heinrich’s attention. The standard-sized storm-shields of the Teutonic Order were intended for normal-sized space marines, and the tech-marines of the chapter had long struggled to successfully craft one large enough to defend a man of Heinrich’s sheer height and girth. The sacred stone remains the first and only object ever formally requested by the Black Knight as a companion to Glacierfall, and he wields the entirety of it like a gigantic shield. It has since been officially renamed Himmelschutz, and it is said the machine-spirit of the Emperor’s Protection lives on inside the holy rock, serving still as a revenant protecting the God-King’s servants from their eternal foes.

Himmelschutz grants Heinrich a +3 invunerable save.

Discipline of Years: Heinrich is the highest-ranking member of the chapter outside of the Bastion Council, having climbed to the position of Captain of the First Company through a long and bloody career representing the virtual pinnacle of Storm Reaver command attainable without induction in either the Reclusiam or the Conglomerate. The quantity of his years of ground-level service in the line of duty are matched only by the quality of his record, having completely mastered the art of waging war with every weapon employed in a space marine’s arsenal. Although preferring not to speak at all (a wish often granted) when in charge of a grim close-combat unit of his Teutonic Knights, Heinrich has been forced to take battlefield command (or simply rally survivors) more than once following unforeseen catastrophes. During such times the Black Knight’s hoarse orders cut through the confusion like an avalanche, demanding absolute obedience in firing salvos and evacuating the wounded. Many are the foes who thought the Storm Reavers dead and routed, only to find themselves lured into kill-zones inside emergency fortifications of Heinrich’s own devising.

Any models in a squad containing Heinrich may re-roll at failed ‘to hit’ rolls with heavy bolters, storm bolters, bolter, and bolt pistols, and one ruin in your deployment zone may be bolstered with +1 to the cover save at the start of the game.

Eternal Warrior: Heinrich is a scarred and huge monster even for a space marine, and is entirely immune to Instant Death.