A Thousand Chapters... (or are there?)

[Portman]

We all know the lore about a thousand Space Marine Chapters being created, and how that basically gives us the creative freedom to do what we want (which I think was the overall aim of RP and GW), but how many of us have actually moved away from the dozen or so ‘standard’ GW chapters and gone out on our own?

 

Have you created your own chapters and even created the lore behind them?  

 

[Panzer]

My Marines are a homegrown tribute chapter to the Blood Angels successor chapter Knights of Blood. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Portman]

That's cool! Did you write any lore behind them?

[Race Bannon]

Check out the Liber forums, there are thousands of Chapters out there :lol:

[Knightsword]

Race Bannon is right. You could spend months reading through the back-catalogue of homebrew Chapters in there. 

 

I homebrew all the time but I've only really fleshed out like seven of them. The main one I focus on is my Ardent Swords chapter. 14,000 words and counting so far.

 

https://wh40khomebrew.wikia.com/wiki/Ardent_Swords

[Doghouse]

I've done lots over the years, all with their own lore and details and I am currently working on one at the moment.

 

I think these guys below are my favourite of all the ones I have done over the years.

 

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/107725-cosmic-space-knights-of-doom/

[Brother Tyler]

This topic is about DIY Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes, so I've moved it to the Liber Astartes forum, where DIY Chapters are discussed.

 

The Liber Astartes forum shows lots of examples of a great many hobbyists developing their own Chapters. Many of these are then turned into "finished" articles, and an index of a great many such finished articles can be seen the DIY listing in the Tabula Astartes, though that listing is by no means conclusive.

[Portman]

This topic is about DIY Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes, so I've moved it to the Liber Astartes forum, where DIY Chapters are discussed.

 

The Liber Astartes forum shows lots of examples of a great many hobbyists developing their own Chapters. Many of these are then turned into "finished" articles, and an index of a great many such finished articles can be seen the DIY listing in the Tabula Astartes, though that listing is by no means conclusive.

 

Ah sorry - my bad - I'm still learning my way around the boards. Thanks for putting it in the correct place. 

 

I'm off to have a mooch around the links now! 

[Brother Tyler]

Ah sorry - my bad - I'm still learning my way around the boards. Thanks for putting it in the correct place. 

 

I'm off to have a mooch around the links now!

No worries.

 

You might also check out Phil Sibbering's One Thousand Chapters website. It hasn't been updated in awhile, but it shows a gallery of a thousand or so Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes, most of which, obviously, are DIYs (since GW hasn't given us the full listing, and hopefully they never do).

[Brother Tyler]

There are already plenty of discussions about Chapter sizes, etc.

This discussion is not about those topics. Here's the main thrust of this discussion:
 

Have you created your own chapters and even created the lore behind them?

While this discussion has been moved into the Liber Astartes forum, that doesn't mean that everyone that has created their own Chapters (with lore) have created topics about those DIY Chapters here in the Liber Astartes forum. Some players may have simply come up with a color scheme and Chapter badge, and maybe even a name. So while trawling through this forum (and other locations) might let the OP know some of the hobbyists that have created DIY Chapters, that doesn't fully answer the question.

To answer the OP's question, the two main Space Marine armies that I'm working on are the Legio Bolter & Chainsword (which isn't "my" DIY, though I'm one of the site members that develops the lore for the Legio) and the Nova Hawks (which is "my" DIY).

The first two Space Marine armies I ever created and played were also DIYs. The first was the Iron Hounds, and were the result of needing to get an army painted up quickly for a battle against some Orks in the Third War for Armageddon campaign. I later turned that army into the Marines Exemplar (I needed to tweak the color scheme a bit), though I may return to the Iron Hounds one day. My second Space Marine army was the Fists of Purity. I actually wrote up an Index Astartes article for that Chapter, though I only painted a couple of Tactical squads and a librarian. I submitted the Chapter in GW's contest way back when, along with some alternative names I'd come up with. Lo and behold, though my submission wasn't one of the winners, there was a Chapter with a remarkably similar color scheme (a few minor tweaks) and one of my alternative names - the Emperor's Hands - in the How to Paint Space Marines book. I suspect that a lot of the Chapters in that book were based on submissions by hobbyists, even if they weren't exact copies. It's also possible, of course, that the similarities were a strong coincidence. At about the same time (3rd edition), I developed a concept for a Chapter based on the Spartans. Thankfully I dropped that idea before I got serious with it, though I've seen numerous other hobbyists create similar DIYs over the years.

I've also created other DIY Chapters over the years here at the B&C, usually for challenges and such. I created the Lorelei Raiders as nothing more than an example for my article on writing DIYs (the first such article here at the B&C to recommend the Index Astartes format). I created the Venerators/Venerators of Korumani/Angels of Veneration as an exploration of a concept with the Unforgiven Chapters. I developed my own version of the Angels of Vigilance in answer to a challenge. Most of these were nothing more than background information - no miniatures.

[Portman]

Thanks for all the comments guys – I have to say I hadn’t found the Liber section of the forums before I posted, so I apologise if it sounded like a daft question. Thanks for the links - I’m working my way through them and reading them all - great stuff! 

 

Having spent some time mooching around the liber boards,  I’m astonished at the work you guys have put into your DIY chapters! You’ve all given me plenty to think about and plenty of good reading material!

 

I'd quite like to have a go myself. When I first started in 40K back in the 90's my first SM Army was DIY. I think I called them the 'Jungle Tigers' or some such nonsense. They were green (OD) and the shoulder pads had really awful tiger markings on them. I think the overall  reason for doing it was that I needed to paint an army quickly and I only had Humbrol paints. 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

It's embarrassing to think of my first effort- 2009's "Steel Vultures"- like Matt Ward's Ultramarines, the Steel Vultures were "Mary Sue Marines," an example of how an amateur writer can confuse AWFUL for AWESOME.

 

My next effort- the same year's "Catachan Wolves"- doesn't have an IA yet, but I think it's more human, and thus, more successful. My writing focus was on the Chapter's founding, the Marines' growing bond with their Chapter planet and its people, and how they united against a common foe- NOT on how "The Catachan Wolves are the bestest Marines ever!!!" like Matt Ward.

 

I then recycled my "Steel Vultures" idea into the "Steel Crusaders," changing them from a Chapter the AdMech created with chimeric gene-seed, to a Deathwatch-like organization the Iron Hands and their successors created to aid the AdMech in the latter's "crusade for knowledge." By focusing on a single First Founding Chapter and its descendants, I could write more of its history, giving the Steel Crusaders a character the Steel Vultures lacked.

 

Finally, 2015's "Iron-hearted Angels," a Blood Angels successor who, after the Sons of Medusa saved their loyalists in a Chapter war, adopted Iron Hands traditions- including the ritual amputation of a "weak, fleshy" hand, and its replacement with a "strong, machine" augmetic- out of shame for self-perceived weakness that allowed some of Sanguinius' sons to turn to Khorne.

 

I'm currently trying to work on the "Star Haunters"- descended from the Ultramarines via the lineage of Minigiant's "Denizens of the Deep"- but Writer's Block is a female dog.

[Ioldanach]

I tend to prefer DIYs over the established chapters, not because I think the established chapters are "bad" (I don't), but because I have a soft spot for underdogs and the unpopular.

The Avenging Lions were my first DIY chapter, and remain my favorite (despite occasional temptations from other DIYs). I wanted to create an army that would have a distinctive appearance on the tabletop - brown. Also, when working on the background, I decided to challenge an opinion presented as fact by too many other hobbyists. If I wasn't so bad at squandering my limited painting time, I'd have an army of these guys painted up for playing. Alas, I'm a terrible procrastinator (and hobby butterfly syndrome has pulled me to my true love, the Aeldari). I really should paint up at least a kill team of these guys, though.

Later, I created the Accusers as both an exploration of a concept and as a challenge to another spurious notion that is perpetuated by too many hobbyists. If I ever get around to a Scouring-era force, these guys will be it.

The Inferno Wardens were created as my submission to a challenge (Greyall was offering to illustrate a character from DIYs that were submitted to the challenge). I was exploring the concept of making a Space Wolves-like chapter (without it being Space Wolves). This is the chapter that occasionally tempts me from the Avenging Lions, largely because I like the color scheme.

The last of the DIY chapters that I've developed (so far) is the Throne Knights. This chapter was created as my submission for one of the periodic challenges within the Dark Angels forum to create successors of Legio I. The concept I was exploring with this chapter was the lengths that the Unforgiven chapters will go to in order to preserve their secret. I doubt that I'll ever get around to painting these guys, beyond possibly making a kill team.

It's worth noting that three of the DIY chapters I've created are now extinct. Only the Avenging Lions continue to exist during the Dark Imperium period. I suppose that my main reason for preferring DIYs is that I have my own piece of the background rather than using any of the more common chapters. If you look at the schemes, none of them are close to the more popular chapters, so there's no mistaking them for someone else (as, say, a yellow army might be mistaken for the Imperial Fists). My efforts in the development of these are often driven towards overcoming some challenge or exploring a story concept. One way or another, all of the chapters I've linked have elements that buck popularly accepted notions. My intent in all of these cases is to find a way to overcome the challenges of the popularly accepted notions, showing how something might be done.

[Cpt_Reaper]

I'll give some insight into my career of DiY writing, rather than focusing on the DiY sub-factions themselves.

When I first got into 40k I naturally chose Space Marines. This was actually my second choice of starting faction, as I was originally going to play Tyranids. But when I saw the Space Marine Dreadnought which I recognised from Dawn of War (from the few times I played it at my cousins' house) I needed Space Marines.

 

So now I had a small force of Marines and a photocopied 4th Edition Space Marine Codex in a binder. It was in black&white so I had to use the internet to research Marine colours. I narrowed it down to 1 of 2 Chapters.
- Blood Ravens because of Dawn of War
- Black Templars because of the first White Dwarf mag I got (Matt Hudson (Templars) vs Phil Kelly (Eldar)

I spray painted my models black and...left them like that for ages because I couldn't get any model paints. Eventually I got some silver so put a lovely silver trim on their shoulder pads. But I was a beginner painter and couldn't keep it neat. So I cheated and painted the whole pad silver. It was about then my friend suggested to make my own Chapter using the Trait system in the 4th edition codex. That was when I came up with the edgiest name I could - The Shadow Guard (which is unrelated to any awesome members of this board).

When the 4th Edition Dark Angels Codex dropped I swapped to it, falling in love with the robe-wearing plasma-spamming Unforgiven. My shadow Guard changed with the times, becoming the Angels of Shadow. From there I added, tweaked, polished and made them a Chapter I am proud to say I have created.

 

It was during this process that I decided that all of my armies would be DiY if I could manage it, and they would all be linked one way or another. Now I have:
- The Angels of Shadow, 11th Founding Dark Angels Successors via the Angels of Absolution
- The 501st Invalacian Legion, a Guard Regiment drawn from the home system of the Angels

- The Brotherhood of Eternity, a Chaos force made up of Iron Warriors, Thousand Sons and Traitor Guard
- The Kabal of the Twin Blades, a Drukhari Kabal led by twin Archons
- Battleforce Tanthius, an Inquisitorial force containing Grey Knights and Stormtroopers under a handful of Inquisitors.

[Philip S]

Have you created your own chapters and even created the lore behind them?

Yep, I went a bit mad as part of the 1,000 chapter project, here are mine: Philip’s Space Marine Chapters

And my reimage of the Rainbow Warriors and Space Sharks :P

 

You might also check out Phil Sibbering's One Thousand Chapters website. It hasn't been updated in awhile, but it shows a gallery of a thousand or so Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes, most of which, obviously, are DIYs (since GW hasn't given us the full listing, and hopefully they never do).

 

I've started to update it again. It is missing a ton of canon chapters. Also, a lot of them were missing bolters as back in the day GW conveniently missed out the bolters on their marine colour illustrations. Now we have more info, and it seems all the missing bolters were all black: so I'm putting them in. In the future, I think any canon chapter where I cannot find a bolter colour for them will end up with a black bolter as a stand in (it is easier to replace, than add, on the shiny metal colour marines).

 

As noted in this article, the count of "1000 Marines" excludes the ...

 

Nice article. I remember that discussion from many moons ago, 10 years, where I took the opposite position and argued for 1000 marines. It seems that old B&C thread has been lost to the warp, and the link dead.

 

If anyone is interested there are a couple posts on my blog: 1000 marines? and More on the 1,000 marines

 

I added a link to your article to give the other side of the argument :)

 

Philip

[Lephisto]

The thing about 40k is that you could always create a faction f your own within the established factions of the 40k universe. That's why the Adeptus Astartes had such a sway on me.

 

The first iteration of a DIY chapter I wrote was called the Celestial Dragons, but that was a horrible attempt. It was horrible because I simply didn't know enough of the lore and really didn't know what m limitations or potential for that chapter could be. It was a cool colour scheme though.

 

Come around 2013 I started collecting a 40k army again and decided to do Space Marines again. I wrote a Index Astartes for them but kept changing name and lore multiple times from the Elysian Falcons to the Elysian Phoenixes which are a completely different chapter altogether. 

 

I know there heaps of people who have created their own DIY's but has anyone actually made an army of them in models like I have?