How Do You Pick Your Army? Lore? Paint Scheme? Rules?

[HighMarshalAmp]

I took up Space Marines because at the time, they seemed easier to paint than Skitarii (who looked cool). I chose my Chapters based on ease of painting as well - I wanted clean Chapter emblems and thus, I was limited to those Chapters who had symmetrical emblems and came with the DW box. So Ultramarines, Black Templars, BA, DA and some more who didn't look as attractive.

I went for UM&BT because that were two Chapters for the price of one Codex.

 

Then, I got some Grey Knights because they looked nice, but a little bland for an exciting first army.

[Dracos]

Reece the face of LVO plans on converting a FW Custodes Dreadnought into his Counts As model for Bobby G, and his Marines are red, so yeah only a total wad would whine about color scheme. Mind you I wouldn’t paint them up identical to Space Wolves or other Codex Chapter for a tournament and use Ultra rules. That would be too confusing. With friends it’s all between you.

[ShibeKing]

Shoot. At this point I'm considering painting my Dark Angels black since I have so many upgrade sprues and I dislike the Green and Red combo. Pretty lore breaking, but whatever.

 

 

The old scheme was better anyways.

[Gothical]

As long as the whole army abides by one chapter it shouldn't be an issue how it's painted. It's only a problem if it becomes confusing or is unclear.

 

That rule only applies for when you use a successor chapter character like Gabriel Seth. No rule for how you paint your boys unless you go to a big GW event.

 

If someone is a stickler for that rule and how you paint your minis, then you should probably avoid them. You paid a good sum for those models. Paint them your way.

 

Awesome, I thought the wording in the Codex/FAQ meant I was stuck:

 

"When you include such a unit in your army, you must nominate which Chapter that unit is from. You then simply replace the <Chapter> keyword in every instance on that unit's datasheet with the name of your chosen Chapter." [codex Space Marines p130]

 

"If your Chapter does not have an associated Chapter Tactic, use the Chapter Tactic of its founding Chapter. For example, Crimson Fists are a successor Chapter of the Imperial Fists, so should use the Chapter Tactic of the Imperial Fists." [codex Space Marines p 195]

 

"Q: Can successor Chapters use the Warlord Traits of their founding Chapter?

A: No." [FAQ v1.4]

 

Thus I figured that a quartered-blue-and-white scheme HAD to take <Novamarines> (since they are not from the Ultramarines Chapter) and thus although used Ultramarines CT and Stratagems (which affect Ultramarines thus implying Successors have that keyword), but the FAQ says you can't use the Warlord Traits (and therefore Relics, Characters/unique units nor benefit from Guilliman's aura).

 

If I can simply just say my quartered-blue-and-white guys are <Ultramarines> for all rules purposes then I am ecstatic (even if I have to pick between several cool Successor Chapters' paint schemes) because I can take my Primaris force and have Guilliman working at full power and have the awesome-looking Ultra bodyguards.

 

Also, whilst I agree about the final point, I like to avoid hassle if I can, especially since this has come about because of the oddly-worded restriction of Guilliman's special rule and new "Primaris honour guard" being limited to Ultramarines so will be seen as trying to game the system for advantage. Whilst it is true that my force will get a solid boost, my theme is a Chapter that has been (nearly) destroyed, such as the Black Consuls lost at Cadia or the Novamarines who were hammered hard in the Plague Wars, and Guilliman is personally overseeing the rebuilding with fresh Primaris and leading their early combat operations as part of his wider Crusade to assess their readiness and to instill his values.

[Ishagu]

I think if you run a custom army as counts as Ultras you're fine to make your own custom Honour Guard as long as they are corectly sized and equipped

[HighMarshalAmp]

Yeah, painting Chapters. I paint the covers on the backpacks of my Marines silver. No C:SM Chapter does that. Are they no longer Ultramarines or Templars because of that?

What if you prefer Vallejo? Do you have to use Citadel paints because it says on the box they're recommended? What if, like me, you prefer darker blue? Do UMs have to be medium blue with edge highlights?

 

The Blood Angels upgrade frame has different emblems on it that the shoulder pads that come with the BA Tac Squad. Which ones are the 'right' ones?

 

If you give your opponents a hard time about how they PAINT the figures that were actually designed to represent the dottiest they're playing, you're probably that kid who only ever used their Lego X-Wing to reenact scenes from the movie and nothing more. And every time your friends wanted to shake things up by having Vader or, God forbid, Indiana Jones show up in the swamp, you threw a fit and ruined the day for everybody.

Nobody wants to play with someone like that, so YOU don't have to feel obligated to bow to the whim of narrow-minded dolts like that either (but you're a good guy for thinking about stuff like that in the first place). 

 

If you want to play your overpriced plastic figurines by 100% legit rules, you just go ahead. If you want to paint them hot pink and still give them the Black Templars keyword, you just go ahead. If someone refuses to play you under these circumstances, he's not worth your time. At all.

 

If you ask me, the Successor Keywords were implemented to make established Chapters like the Crimson Fists their own thing without elevating them to Black Templar independence status and for players to feel like they're playing their own army.

But if you want to name your Chapter the Dancing Queens (don't judge, it just stuck), you probably don't wanna use a version of Guilliman anyway and create your own fluffy Characters instead.

Captain Stottlemeyer of the Ultramarines 2nd Company says hi.

[Kinstryfe]

For me, picking a chapter has always come down about half and half on fluff and on colour, though sometimes one or the other wins out. My first full sized army was loyalist Emperor's Children because I love purple and liked the early preheresy fluff. My guard army is a custom regiment in red simply because at the time the first red paints with good coverage had come out. My Ultramarines occurred for what I've been told is the dumbest reason ever to start a demicompany: I had painted one Squad of TDA blue a couple years before and when making a first company figured that if I went with Ultras that would be 5 fewer models to paint.

 

Most recently I've gone off the deep end. My Lamenters were done to challenge myself and because the idea of unlucky Marines means my dice rolls are now fluffy. My recent Harlequin army was done because it was the only thing more weird to paint than Lamenters that I could think of. So I guess now I'm doing armies for the challenge rather than anything else.

[Panzer]

I paint and build my Blood Angels as Knights of Blood Baal successor chapter because I really wanted knightly themed Space Marines, don't care for Dark Angels, like the BA fluff WAY more than the BT fluff, don't like the GK fluff enough and there already are some successor chapters with Knight in the name.

I'll be damned if I let anybody tell me that I can't use more than just that one crappy power sword relic just because I prefer BA fluff over DA, BT and GK but wanted my own spin on the theme. :D

[Trevak Dal]

I don't like the vampire stuff about blood angels (vampires freak me out a little) but I really liked that Knights of Blood color scheme they got.

 

Back when I played with Legos we didn't have the fancy branded kits (like starwars etc) they had their own lines and they were pretty awesome. I used to pretend it was a sort of "Small Soldiers"/"Indian In the Cupboard" scenario where two factions were embroiled in a GI Joe/Transformers type of extended combat and rigged technology taken from real world stuff to make their vehicles work.

 

Like they would engage in airship combat that would be the size of a couch with say, BB guns and pellet rifles being the cannons, and when one got killed he became hard plastic again.

 

I was heavily influenced by movies like the Abyss, etc. When I played with friends it would sort of go on like you'd expect a Civilization or Age of Empires game to go, before we inevitably attacked one another and there was glorious slaughter and destruction.

[BloodWolves]

How about Characters? I originally really liked the Black Templars because of Helsreach and Grimaldus a lot.

And then I got the audiobook that had Asmodai in it and I thought Interrogator Chaplains were so cool.

And then I heard another audiobook about Gabriel Seth battling an Eversor and that was awesome.

And then I replayed Doom 2016 just recently and Doom Slayer seems like a viable paint scheme. Or else I'd make him a "Character" in my unique Flesh Tearers army and use "Emperor's Champion" like rules for him for just garagehammer.

 

 

For me.. I never thought in 40000 years that I would of liked to paint Grey Knights but they turned out to be the first Army I ever kinda completed and based and everything.

Its the Chapter Marines that I keep repainting or sell/ trade my painted ones for blank ones to start a new color scheme.

[Lemondish]

All of the above, but each happens at different stages. 

 

I got hooked on the Deathwatch due to their paint scheme, then their lore, and finally their rules. 

 

But it was the rules and lore that first hit me for crimson fists, then I fell into their paint scheme. 

[Reldn]

Lore and look, and what personally appeals to me.

 

Never tabletop performance. That changes over time, and if it's the main reason you'll find yourself in the shadow of a very unsatisfying financial and time commitment.

 

This. My army choices have always been based on Fluff and what appeals to me/catches my eye the most. That being said, it can be a bit of a double-edged sword as well, because, lore can change and that has sometimes completely killed my interest.

 

Ease of painting is a consideration too (even though I can't even do the simple schemes either). Case in point: I love the Howling Griffons...I could never do their colour scheme. *laughs*

[Brother Lunkhead]

Game performance on the table top will always be up and down for my beloved Ultramarines, but cool lore and looks will always be cool...… plus they are BLUE you know

[Father Mehman]

The lore usually comes first and then the paint scheme. I can't play the game anymore, so rules don't matter - although I do like to have a force designed as if it was going to be played. I stay away from GW "official" armies since the Iron Hands - my beloved and first foray into Space Marines - were retconned to vanilla status. Besides the Iron Hands, Flesh Tearers, and Space Wolves (all three their own Clan Company, Company, and Great Company, respectively), my Marines are all DIY so I can control their entire lore and not be beholden to bad decisions made by someone else.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The lore usually comes first and then the paint scheme. I can't play the game anymore, so rules don't matter - although I do like to have a force designed as if it was going to be played. I stay away from GW "official" armies since the Iron Hands - my beloved and first foray into Space Marines - were retconned to vanilla status. Besides the Iron Hands, Flesh Tearers, and Space Wolves (all three their own Clan Company, Company, and Great Company, respectively), my Marines are all DIY so I can control their entire lore and not be beholden to bad decisions made by someone else.

Well said. Hell, I wrote my own IAs for the reasons you stated.

[RikuEru]

Well, for me this went completely different... (and quite in contrast to my LotR Collection, where I started building alongside the D'Agostini Magazine, collecting heroes and units of both sides and almost all armies, buying a few extra units here and there, ending up with more stuff than I can ever play)

 

I had never engaged or really encountered Warhammer 40k stuff much (not even Video games like Dawn of War, even tho I loved similiar games like Company of Heroes- don't ask me how that happened!), except for barely seeing it in the GW Stores, when I bought new LotR stuff.

Tho this slowly came to a halt, when the fad of the Movies was forgotten and new releases slowed down. (+ school and later university ate my hobby time)

 

But when I met a new circle of friends, they introduced me to 40k tabletop (early days of 7th Edition) and I looked at it, saw the Gamesworkshop Logo... and I was hooked again.

I immediately went head first into it, reading up about the Lore as much as I could.

 

But then there was a problem - what should I play, as I wanted to add something different to the group:

The First "Old guy" Mentor in our group had BAs, Eldar, Necrons, Grey Knights

The Second "Old Guy" Mentor in our group had Black Templars, a vast Imperial Army and Titans, Tyranids

The other New Guy had Necrons

The second New Guy had Tau and Dark Eldar (...and his girlfriend would later join, adding a mixed bag of all kinds of Chaos and Harlequins aswell)

 

Chaos was out of the Question for me. I was warned of old models and finecast characters.

Also the Aesthetics of the different factions clashed too much for my taste (Mind you: I mostly used the GW Webpage to get an Overview) and I didn't (yet) fully grasp all of the lore concerning Chaos and the Legions, etc.

 

Orks were another option and while I liked the idea, everywhere I looked, I saw critiques of Orks being almost unplayable and needing a huge collection of models.

What really put me off tho was the large number of conversions possible - not because I thought I couldn't do it, but because I (rightfully) feared I would get lost in all the possibilities, building new stuff constantly.

 

But two Space Marine Chapters were left unplayed and both caught my eye, visually and in the lore:

Space Wolves and Dark Angels!

I sat down and read more about both of them, especially loving their brotherly rivalry.

I knew I had to get some Space Wolves and add some Dark Angels later for my little brother to play or vice versa.

Tho I didn't like their regular paint schemes (SW looked too much like baby blue and I still dreaded painting green after so many years of using it frequently gor LotR), both their HH Era Schemes were to my liking.

 

Fate had decided for me, that I would NOT start with a Box of Dark Vengeance to begin a collection of Dark Angels, because a week after, the Stormclaw Box was released. (And another friend wanted to start a bit of Orks)

So I got the new Krom Dragongaze model, my first Space Wolves in Power Armor and Terminator Armor (which I especially loved) and then shortly after (I think...) the 7th Edition Space Wolves Codex was released.

 

While we didn't get around to many games in 7th and no Games at all in 8th (some left the circle of friends, the two old mentors now got babies and started less time-consuming tabletop games [for now]),

I have constantly added to this army and my bits collection, adding 30k models, Leman Russ himself, all kinds of conversions, limited models, old metal models, Primaris and (soon) some kjaerls.

(Tho a large amount of it is still a grey mount of unpainted shame)

 

If I ever finish these or get close to it, I will maybe revisit the idea of a token Dark Angels force... ...probably when the Wolf Time comes. Or after...