"A foe without honour is a foe already beaten." -- Ancient Helveticus, Ultramarines Honour Guard
A member of the Ultramarines Chapter's Honour Guard
An Ultramarines Chapter Champion
A member of the Ultramarines Honour Guard wielding a Power Axe
Veteran Space Marines with centuries of service and multiple commendations and decorations are sometimes awarded the chance to serve in their Chapter's Honour Guard. Every Astartes in a Chapter Honour Guard has proven himself to be a living exemplar of the Space Marine ideal that the Primarch Roboute Guilliman laid out in the Codex Astartes. Honour Guards are stoic and spiritually solemn individuals when at rest in their Chapter's fortress-monastery, but ferocious and unyielding in battle. Each has received the very highest honours that his Battle-Brothers can bestow, performing deeds the likes of which lesser men can only dream. Indeed, it is said that each member of a a Chapter's Honour Guard has earned more commendations and glories in a lifetime's service than a whole company of Space Marines from any other Chapter, and that each individual has slain more foes than an entire regiment of Imperial Guardsmen. So steeped are the Honour Guard in the art of war that their understanding of tactical and strategic combat commonly outstrips even the experience of the Chapter's company captains. It is considered folly for even the Master of the Chapter to ignore the counsel of his Honour Guard. The most skilled member of the Honour Guard is usually selected as the Chapter Champion, whose duty it is to challenge any enemy commander to single combat. When this is not possible, the Champion directs all his effort in battle to killing the most elite individual enemy commanders he can find to damage the opposing force's morale.
An Honour Guard's wargear is drawn from amongst the most ancient relics of the Chapter, for such Astartes above all others have earned the right to wield such sacred weapons and bear the burden of leadership that accompanies them. Thus, it is common for a Chapter's Honour Guard to wear Artificer Power Armour and wield masterwork versions of standard Astartes weapons. Most Space Marine Chapters have only a handful of Astartes in their Honour Guard, enough to form a distinct and capable fighting unit surrounding the Chapter Master, but no more. A few of the older and larger Chapters like the Ultramarines can muster as many as two dozen Honour Guards, but it is rare even for them to fight as a unit. When in combat, the Honour Guard acts as the Chapter Master's bodyguard, responsible for the safety of their commander and hoisting aloft the Chapter's battle standard. These are sacred tasks and the Honour Guard fight for both ferociously, and never succumb to fear or rage which may cloud their judgment. Such courage and devotion has been the salvation of more than one Chapter Master's life. When a member of the Honour Guard is slain, his Battle-Brothers will take any action necessary to recover the body so that his gene-seed may be returned to the Chapter and his remains can be interred with full honours in the Chapter's Vault of Heroes.
Sources
- Codex: Space Marines (4th Edition)
- Codex: Space Marines (5th Edition), p. 53