Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hey all,

I'm running a Space Marines army with my own paint scheme, back story, and play style. But seeing as how I'm pretty new to the game(smokescreen! lol) I'm wondering if I'm missing out on a whole aspect of the game by not selecting a "true" faction.

I feel like I'm at the point where I'm going to be "closing the ranks" of my current army and starting on my second one. With that in the back of my mind, and knowing that I'm very fond of Space Marines, I was considering picking a faction for my second army as opposed to picking up a new race.

So my question in a nut shell is:

Am I missing out on a key area of the game by not using a "true" faction?

No.

Don't worry about until you find that faction/race combo that really jumps out at you. Then go wild with as much theme/awesome painting/etc. as you can muster.

IMO, you miss out more by picking a pre-made faction.

Show some creativity and make your own!

Definitely not.

By having your own chapter you can use your army for any SM codex by changing a few minis here and there.
Saves a bucket load of money on having 2 or 3 marine forces.

All the rules are written in the codexes to allow you to play with any of them that you choose. So if you like the way Blood Angels play, you can use the Blood Angel rules for your made-up chapter.

Or within the Space Marine codex you can utilize any of the special characters, make up a new name for them, and use them as a character representing your made-up chapter.

So rules-wise, you miss out on nothing by creating your own chapter, and in fact people will have a much easier time accepting it if you want to try different chapter rules, as opposed to say, if your models are painted Blood Angels, where some players will give you grief for trying to then play using different chapter rules with those models.



So really it comes down to whether you like to make up your own chpater fluff and paint schemes, or whether you like to buy into an existing set of fluff/paint schemes. Both ways have their pluses and minuses.

A DIY chapter obviously means the canvas is wide open for your fuff and paint schemes so it allows your imagination to run wild.

However, sticking to a pre-existing chapter can often give you inspiration because of how much stuff there already is out there for the chapter. You could read a novel or a fluff piece in the codex for a famous chapter and it can inspire you to create an army to represent the story, for example.


Ultimately, if you just do whatever interests you the most, you'll be just fine.

I've done both. Playing an existing faction is fun in that I can spend time researching the background of my faction and discussing it with others. There's definitely a lot let broad-brush creativity going on in that case, though.

Thanks for all the responses guys.

I think I'm glad I didn't jump ship on my DIY army. And I'm glad that I'm not kicking myself in the ass for picking one either

So as I've stated in the OP, I am about to transition into my second army. I've been told that picking an army that can ally with my other army is my best bet. So with that in mind as I slowly put the Fists of Magnus on military leave, I think I may have to counter balance their reckless, improvising nature with perhaps a more serious, by the books faction.

Or I may just get some aliens.

But really, thanks for helping me out. I feel like I've gotten the info I needed and I feel like if I really needed to at this point in time, I could say army two(if space marines) will be an actual chapter. Just a best of both worlds type of scenario

Waaagh_Gonads wrote:Definitely not.

By having your own chapter you can use your army for any SM codex by changing a few minis here and there.
Saves a bucket load of money on having 2 or 3 marine forces.

Don't forget chaos and potentially a GK type force as well.

One DIY chapter to rule them all, and in the darkness bind them!