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I bought the Assault on Black reach box set a few days ao and am eager to start painting, but I'm concerned about how my painting choices could bring up unwanted "special rules" in the future. I don't have any of the codexes yet, so I don't have the means to directly research most of my questions. I have three main problems, which I will describe in moderate detail below as clearly as I can:

1) I almost ran into disaster when I was about to paint the Marines as White Scars. Thanks only to a lucky Google hit, I found out that White Scars chapters aren't allowed to field Dreadnoughts (which seemed an awful shame with the included Dread in the kit) in addition to being a bike-heavy chapter, an option that I wouldn't be interested in funding. I found this to be particularly annoying, seeing as they recommended it as one of the paint schemes in the supplementary book. Can I get a little guidance on this chapter nonsense? My decals are listed in #3 along with a follow-up.

2) I had a similar problem when I almost decided to paint my orks as Snakebites. Running across the background of the chapter on this forum, I was dismayed to find all of the technoloical limitations to the snakebite armies. I would like to know what grounds make an ork part of a certain clan, sine it's definitely not as strict as the Space Marines. Is it assumed that the orks are just "orks" unless you say "I'd like to use snakebite rules for my waagh" or something? My decals are listed in #3 along with a follow up.

3) The kit, as many of you probably know, comes with an assortment of tempting Chapter and Clan decals. My first issue is that I can't identify all of the decals on the sheet. I know that there are decals for the Salamanders, Ultramarines, Crimson Fists, and White Scars chapters along with decals for the Evil Suns, Bad Moons, and Goffs. Here are descriptions of decals that I don't know...

Marine
- black skull on a white field inscribed in a black circle
- Simple black lightening bolt on a white field inscribed in a black circle
- Roman numeral I (black, plain)
- Roman numeral II (black plain)
- Roman numeral I (on a yellow circle)
- Roman numeral II (on a yellow circle)
- a small red lightening bolt with black wings

Ork
- small black lightening bolts
- fang-shaped decals (that I assume are meant to go on the Deff-koptas)


I'd much appreciate any help anyone can provide.

All your answers are in the Space Marines and Orks codex. It sounds like you're making a whole lot of assumptions based on fluff rather than game play. Again... The army codex will clear all of this up for each.

Don't panic mate!

Nowadays there aren't any particular Clan/Chapter 'rules' . (Apart from the non codex chapters of course - Blood/Dark angels Space wolves and Black Templars)

So you can feel free to include any units you like. It's true, some choices may not be that 'fluffy' i.e. taking a dreadnought for white scars or taking a big mek or deffkoptaz with snakebites. No one will mind if you did this, though. (well they might mind a bit but they'd have no rules problem with it.) You could get additional kudos by trying to fluffify your un-fluffy choice. i.e. put the WS dreadnought in a drop pod, or model the deffkoptaz as orks riding some crazy flying squig. Also orks can have a mix of clans in one warband if you like.

As for the decals you have described, I don't think of them are of any particular clan/chapter, they are are just generic orky/imperial symbols you can use on any model regardless of chapter or clan.

the lightning bolts represent the ork word ' ZAG' meaning 'strike' or 'surprise' or 'lightning'.

Wow...it looks to me like you're reading into this clan/chapter thing a bit too much. When I was painting my AoBR guys i just made my own chapter and clan, with my own paint schemes, which can be a lot more fun than using one of the GW approved ones. Of course, if you want to use one of the existing chapters or clans, you don't really have any limitations there either. Most of the stuff in AoBR is generic however, and most chapters and clans can field all of it fluffwise. Although I have never seen or heard of white scars termies.

you can paint them how ever you want you dont have to have just bikes in a white scares army infact if you really want white scares without bikes then go for it.

Okay, that's a relief. I was worried that something would pop out and bite me later. I'm particularly cautious when I try something new, so it's good to know that I have definite leeway here. Thank you so much, all.

@Nightwatch: I'm pretty sure I saw some White Scar Terminators on the Gallery somewhere, but that's amongst the untold thousands of pictures, I'm sure. XD

I'd like to take this opportunity to point out that this is exactly what's wrong with approaching the game from a fluff mindset when the fluff and rules don't line up. New players get intimidated when they shouldn't be at all.

One more thing: is it 40kosher to mix various chapters depending on their roll? Say, making a Black Templar command squad and/or White Scar bikes in a predominantly Ultramarine army?

In the GW background there is almost always an exception to every “rule.” I don’t think it is hard to imagine that the White Scars chapter has some footslogging troops and Dreadnaughts for fighting in those hard to reach places where motorbikes can’t really go, like jungles, fortresses, Space Hulks, ruined cities, etc. The White Scars army list was meant to add an extra dimension to the original Space Marine army list, NOT to inhibit you from basing an army on the vanilla list. The only rule is you can’t mix the two lists. You could bounce back and forth (assuming the White scars list is still viable?). Truth is so few people like to work with the color white you hardly ever see a White Scars army anyway. No one is going to give you a hard time, unless your plan is to just white prime the figs and then put them on the table.

As for Snakebites, AFAIK, there is no longer a Snakebite army list. It’s more of a notional concept, nowadays. Many of the old Snakebite mainstays like cyboars have fallen by the wayside. You can do anything you wish along those lines. My Ork army is themed as a GorkaMorka army that finally made it off of Angelis, the planet where the GM Orks were stranded. This only affects color schemes, not the composition of the army.

Since it sounds like you are looking to paint up your AoBR figs, and maybe aren’t so interested in building full armies, just do what you like. The box set gives you enough rules to do just that. If you later decide to expand beyond that, then you will want to get a hold of the relevant army books. Check GW’s website for information on Space Marines and Ork decals, etc…

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/home.jsp

it wont matter what color you paint your marines rules wise. its perfectly fluffy to have an entire whitescars army with no bikes, after all they do adhere to the codex astartes and can fight in any tactical mode. They also invented the razorback if im correct so lots of squads mounted in razorbacks, rhinos and drop pods with predators with no sponsons could also be considered a fluffy whitescars army. what im trying to say is don't get too hung up on the bikes. although its true they don't use dreadnoughts which is a shame because they are cool models and would look great painted in a whitescars theme.

as far as the decals go, i believe the black skull in a white circle is just a generic decal for you to use where you see fit, you could use it on the opposite of the chapter pad to represent command squads, same goes with the lightning bolt. the numerals are usually used to denote squads

TK421, firstly welcome to dakka, secondly nice avatar, StarWars friggin RULES!

Ok onto some of your questons. As stated before unless you make you guys bloodangels,darkangels,black templars, space wolves.... You dont have to really worry about any of the fluff crap. You can paint your armies however you want. Same with the Orks. Infact ESPECIALLY if your Orks. Orks dont care, they just kill, plain and simple.
No one will bust your balls if you paint your marines white scars and dont use bikes. Just tell them you like the color scheme. Also, You CAN paint them mostly the same if you wanted to, and make them your own chapter. Mostly this game is all about having fun with what your doing. Good luck man

Tk421 wrote:One more thing: is it 40kosher to mix various chapters depending on their roll? Say, making a Black Templar command squad and/or White Scar bikes in a predominantly Ultramarine army?

Mixing different generic codex chapters is okay (although, I wouldn't take command elements from one without a command element from the main army). Mixing the four chapters with their own codeci is not okay.

As long as you use the same set of rules for all your marines, people will find it fine. The colour doesn't matter, and I'm sure you won't be the first to have a multi-chapter army. In the fluff from the codex, there's tons of stuff about all the chapters joining up to take out a threat, Your army is fine colour-wise.
with orks, it's not just accepted or valid, it's loved.
keep up the posts and let us see some pics!

Mixing the marine color schemes, as mentioned, is just fine. However, I prefer a uniform to my force, as do a lot of players. As long as they all use the same codex it's fine.

I find it more acceptable for Orks to mix and match colors, since a lot of tribes are mixes of boyz from multiple klans. Fits their army personality better.

I doubt many gamers will complain about your paint scheme unless the theme is "sprue grey" or "basecoat black". If someone does complain, have some backup fluff ready. For example "My orks are yellow because they eat cheese" or "My army has mixed chapters of marines because they are the only survivors of an ork WAAAGH"
Happy painting!

Quick solution to your colour scheme woes: Homebrew clan/chapter.

Problem solved

Thanks for the excellent input everyone! I think I've made my final decision on the Marines. Looks like I'll paint the models in the box as Ultramarines and paint other squads as other chapters as I deem fit. The general idea will be that the Ultras are on some sort of recovery, rescue, or reinforcement mission involving a Waagh and pull together all the other chapter remnants in the area for assistance. (Thanks for the inspiration, Dominork7!) I'll have to try out the create-a-chapter/clan idea. Sounds fun!

Thanks again, y'all.

I'll have to try out the create-a-chapter/clan idea. Sounds fun!

DoW/DoW 2 and the GW Army Painter program work great for picking out color schemes. As for theme, ancient culture is often a great influence - Roman, Greek, Gaullic/Germanic, Egyptian, and Arabian ancient history all work great as influence on a custom chapter's "feel"

Tk421 wrote:40kosher

I love that term!

As for the color scheme, it's completely up to you. All you have to do is be up front that you're using generic Space Marines and Orks rules and you're fine.