Scout Armour

Scout Armour, also sometimes referred to as Infiltrator Armour, is the standard type of combat armour worn by Space Marine Scouts before they become full Initiates of their Chapter and have earned the right to wear a suit of true Power Armour. Scout Armour is actually a modified suit of Imperial Carapace Armour similar to that worn by elite members of the Imperial Guard that has been enlarged to fit the anatomy of a member of the Adeptus Astartes. Scout Armour is comprised of overlapping plates of ceramite which can easily stop a kinetic round or a low-power directed energy bolt, while the fabric fatigues which cover the non-vital regions of the Scout Marine's body are composed of a type of ballistic nylon thread which provides a lesser level of protection without reducing the Scout Marine's manoeuvrability. Scout Armour is much quieter and less cumbersome than Astartes Power Armour with all of its mechanised and Cogitator-aided systems. Scout Armour is thus an ideal form of protection for Scout Marines, who are responsible for undertaking their Chapter's infiltration and sniper duties where silence is paramount.

Deathwatch Scout Armour
Deathwatch Scout Armour is a variant of standard Scout Armour that is used by the veteran Space Marines of the Deathwatch, the Chamber Militant of the Ordo Xenos, to meet certain mission requirements. Based on the standard pattern of Scout Armour fielded by almost all of the Codex Astartes-compliant Space Marine Chapters of the Imperium, Deathwatch Scout Armour is a lightweight, non-powered suit of Carapace Armour modified by the Deathwatch armourers of Watch Fortress Erioch in the Jericho Reach specifically to suit the needs of their unique mission.

Similar to the armour worn by sniper Scouts of Chapters like the Raven Guard, Deathwatch Scout Armour is composed of a hardened ceramite chestplate that covers the Space Marine’s torso, shoulders and groin area worn over a reinforced body glove. Armoured, elbow-length gauntlets protect the wearer’s hands, while heavily reinforced, ceramite-toed Grox-hide boots keep his feet safe and dry. Since Deathwatch Scout Armour is essentially a half-suit over a form-fitted body glove, and is made of light materials, it does not hinder the wearer’s movement and allows him to retain his natural agility and stealthiness while still providing excellent protection. This armour is often worn in conjunction with Cameleoline Cloaks.

Although it is not environmentally sealed like Astartes Power Armour, the composition of the body glove and numerous built-in systems keep the wearer relatively safe from hazardous conditions. The body glove is impregnated with special fibres coated with powerful unguents that provide limited protection from atomic, chemical, and biological threats. It is also woven with small, gel-filled passages that allow the Space Marine wearing it to better withstand heat and cold as it regulates his temperature. Mounted on the armour’s back is a heavy, hardened unit that contains, among other things, both drinking water and an oxygen supply. Water and air are delivered to the wearer through a dual-purpose rebreather/hydrator that acts as a gas mask and filters air from the surrounding atmosphere. He also wears an auto-injector glove beneath one of his gauntlets that functions much like the auto-injector system found in Astartes Power Armour.

Along with the protective elements, there are a number of built-in systems designed to assist the Space Marine in his mission as the eyes and ears of his Deathwatch Battle-Brothers. In his back unit, the wearer carries an encrypted, long-range Vox system that allows him to maintain contact with command, as well as communicate with airborne, armoured, and artillery units to act as a forward observer or fire-controller. The hard plates of the armour are painted with a special coating that makes it difficult to detect with Autosense, Auspex, and Augur arrays. The combination of built-in systems and the inherent qualities of the armoured body glove and carapace make a Space Marine wearing this armour, while not as deadly as his Power Armoured Battle-Brothers, still an extremely formidable combatant.

The different built-in systems and abilities of Infiltrator Armour are as follows:
 * Ceramite Plates - The chestplate and gauntlets provide reinforced protection for the body and arms similar to the provided by Power Armour.
 * Body Glove - The body glove worn under the Infiltrator’s ceramite plates provides respectable armour protection and does a decent job of protecting the wearer from hostile environs. It provides armoured protection to the legs similar to that of Power Armour, and grants increased resistance to contact poisons, radiation, acids, or toxic chemicals.
 * Anointment of Obfuscation - The sacred unguents and special coatings worked into the Scout Armour’s hard plates and body glove make it incredibly hard to detect via technological means. Anyone trying to detect a Space Marine wearing Infiltrator Armour using Autosenses, Auspex, or Augur arrays finds that these technological systems have difficulty locking onto the target.
 * Scout’s Vox - Each suit of Deathwatch Scout Armour carries a long-range, encrypted, multi-band Vox system that allows the wearer to stay in constant contact with his unit. The transmitter is housed in the armour’s back mounted storage unit, and is heavily insulated from shock and damage. The unit is voice activated, and is operated via a headpiece featuring a headphone/microphone combination. It also allows the wearer to communicate with other units as well as any Deathwatch armour or aerospace units. The Scout’s Vox has a range of 35 kilometres, which can be stretched indefinitely with signal relays like other Scouts or vehicle and Power Armour-mounted Vox systems, and can transmit both voice and data.
 * Interlocutor Beacon - An Infiltrator suit’s Interlocutor Beacon helps identify the wearer as an ally to all friendly forces he fights with. Broadcasting on a narrow-band, highly-encrypted frequency with a range of ten kilometres, the Interlocutor Beacon not only identifi es the wearer as a Space Marine, but also acts as an emergency distress beacon if he becomes trapped or incapacitated. Each Chapter has a unique frequency that all of their beacons broadcast on, and this frequency is constantly changed by the Chapter’s Techmarines in the interests of security.
 * Auto-Injector Cuff - Worn beneath one of the Deathwatch Scout Armour’s armoured ceramite gauntlets, the Auto-Injector Cuff is a scaled-down version of the same item within standard Astartes Power Armour. It consists of a number of small vials and an Auto-Injector system run by a small Cogitator array with a built-in bio-monitor. Like the Power Armour unit, when the bio-monitor detects a problem with the wearer’s life signs, the Cogitator immediately administers the proper drug to counteract whatever ails the Space Marine wearing it. This unit provides the following benefits:
 * A drug cocktail that can counteract most known toxins, poisons and even the deleterious effects of ionising radiation for a limited time.
 * Two doses of pain suppressing drugs that allow a Space Marine wearing the armour to ignore the effects of extreme wounds. These doses can be used in succession or staggered.
 * If the wearer gets stunned, the Scout Armour's Cogitator system will inject him with a cocktail of stimulants which will negate the stun effects.