How to work old relics (FW units) into a DIY chapter?

[Bishoujo]

Hey there B&C.  I'm working on a DIY Astartes Chapter and would really enjoy painting up some of the cooler Forgeworld items I have sitting in my hobby backlog in this chapter's theme.  I'm definitely a narrative / rule of cool player, so I build armies / lists out of units or themes I find interesting, even if they aren't going to perform at top level on the table.

 

However, I want things to make narrative sense as well and I'm having a hard time coming up with non-lore destroying reasons why my chapter would have access to something like a Deredeo Dreadnought (for example).  My goal is to have 2 (maybe 3) Forgeworld pieces like this painted up with this theme.  I know there's a fine line between adding something interesting to a chapter and being a special snowflake.  You give them a special toy, and then another, and before you know it you're a BA successor who has cured the Black Rage, have more suits of Terminator Armor than the Dark Angels and have your Fortress Monastery on an Eldar Craftworld because of the time your Chapter single-handedly defeated a Tyranid Hive Fleet and a Necron Tomb World in a single afternoon.     I don't want force things into my Chapter if it gives off too much of a special snowflake vibe, ya know?

 

TL;DR - What are some lore friendly ways that a DIY Chapter could come into possession of something like a Deredeo or Leviathan Dreadnought?  Even the original and 2nd Founding Chapters don't have a ton of these relics - and they were actually around when they were being used in mass (relatively).

 

Any ideas are greatly appreciated!  

[Conn Eremon]

To be fair, we don't really have an accurate idea of how spread many of these artifacts are. Rare certainly, but how rare. Chapters having ancient things is one of the most common things linking every one of them. Some certainly have more than others, like the Space Wolf fleet, the fully Terminator-clad Dark Angels 1st Company or the fact that only the 1st Founding Chapters have Legion-sized fortress-monasteries, but even the youngest Chapters have something.

 

TL;DR - What are some lore friendly ways that a DIY Chapter could come into possession of something like a Deredeo or Leviathan Dreadnought?  Even the original and 2nd Founding Chapters don't have a ton of these relics - and they were actually around when they were being used in mass (relatively).

 

 

 

Something to remember is that the Legions were broken apart and that didn't just mean manpower and manpower alone. The Ultramarines Legion may have fielded hundreds of these variant pattern Dreadnoughts during the Crusade and Heresy, but even if they got the best slice of the pie it was still just a slice. This division of matériel must surely repeat itself on down the line, further diluting itself in successive Foundings. How likely you are to having Legion equipment then must be linked to how close your Founding was to that time, but there wouldn't be a cut-off where the Founding makes the equipment impossible. Simply less likely.

 

How much of an issue this becomes is entirely up to you. Are these two or three relics the full extent you're going? Are you going to be repeating the same kind of . . . "favor" I suppose, with other aspects of this DIY? Or do you intend to sort of balance things out by adjusting other aspects more negatively?

 

Really, my only advice is that being worried about that kind of end-result shouldn't mean that you refuse to take any steps down that path. It only seems like a slippery slope because of how often we see people leap down it.

[Bishoujo]

 even the youngest Chapters have something.

 

 It only seems like a slippery slope because of how often we see people leap down it.

 

Thank you for this feedback.  It was very helpful.  I think you're right that I may be overthinking this, specifically because I see it done poorly so often and it's made me more gun-shy than I probably need to be.  I'd say the few relics would be the extent of my 'special snowflake' bonuses.  I've definitely got some negatives in mind to balance things out.  Will keep working on my rough-draft fluff and will share with the Liber once it's a bit more fleshed out.  Thanks again!

Edited March 3, 2018 by Bishoujo

[Quixus]

While this does not explicitly address the fluff, the most recent rules for such relics make them a lot less rare than previous editions. You can have as many relics in your battle-forged army as you have other units with the same battlefield role.

[Cpt_Reaper]

Chapters can find gear too. Long lost weapon stores, fortresses and space hulks are full of ancient goodies.

[Bishoujo]

Thanks everyone for the feedback.