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.

So i got the codex a little while back and was daunted by picking a chapter for my space marine army so much that i actually just put the book down and left it for like half a year.The thing is i really really really dont want to do ultramarines and in the codex there is so much stuff on them thats its kinda annoying i mean yes i know they're the poster boys of GW and yes i know they're what people usually want to start with because their simple but really the amount of jibes i would get out of the people i game wtih would be horrendous.So im wondering if any of yous have good ideas for a chapter i could pick?all suggestions except from Ultramarines are welcome

I've got a few suggestions.

Saints preserve us. What kind of hipster toolbags are you playing with if they'd make fun of your choice of army? And if they did, why not just say "Yeah, Ultramarines. Recognize?" Wanting to play something other than Ultras is obviously fine, but the constant hating on them is wearying. /rant The answer to your question, obviously, is the Rainbow Warriors.

Make. Your. Friggin'. Own.

DIY chapters FTW!

I've always liked Salamanders, but many people hate on Vulkan He'stan, so it's up to you.

And remember, you can use the special characters of other chapters in your army.

As a dedicated Salamanders player, and a student of the Mister T school of social interaction, I pity da fool who be hatin' on Vulkan He'stan!

But seriously, I recommend doing the following. First, decide if you want to play a chapter with specific rules. (Since you are playing out of Codex: Marines, your options are the Imperial Fists, the Crimson Fists, the Salamanders, the Raven Guard, or the White Scars.) If so, look at their Chapter Specific rules and decide which one you like the most. Also, decide which of their special characters you like the most. (Since you have to have them in any army that's going to use the Chapter Tactics from your chosen army.)

If you don't want to play a chapter with specific special rules (or don't care one way or the other) then consider this next. Different paint schemes require varying degrees of skill and work. In addition, you are going to spend a LOT of time looking at your army. Make sure that you pick an army you feel capable of painting/modeling, as well as one you think you can stand staring at for hours on end.

Also, hit the above link and check out the fluff for any chapters you are considering. You might want to make a decision based on the fluff. (I did.) Sometimes a chapter may have some background that will make them stand out, or disqualify them from your consideration. Something else you might want to think about is armies that you don't see that often, like Storm Lords, or the Aurora Chapter.

As an example, let's take me: I really liked the Imperial Fists, both in story background, color composition, special character, and uniqueness (since I had never seen one played). So I chose them. Fortunately for me I tried to paint them FIRST, before ordering my special character, because I discovered that yellow is the hardest color (in my opinion) to paint. It was more of a pain in the fanny than I can possibly describe. So, I went with my second choice, whose fluff I liked a LOT better. (Also, I personally enjoy their colors more.) I can stare at Salamander green for hours at a time. In point of fact, I spent about a half an hour staring at a model I painted earlier tonight. I love their colors.

So, I hope this helps. In the end, it all comes down to what you like the most.

Here is a question that has been bothering me, and somewhat related to this. say i have the models to make a tournament ready army, but i want to play SW. would i have to paint them space wolves colors and make them look space wolfy in order to use their rules for a tournament?

That depends on the TO. But you don't have to use space wolf colors to us the space wolf codex. They might wish that you use the SW models though.

haha looks like i get to convert 30+ models to space wolves since i have a feeling that most TO's will at least want me to use the right models...Doesn't help that i hate painting marine faces. But as Jimsolo recommended i LOVE spacewolf fluff(it helps that i am Norwegian and Scottish, so a bunch of space warriors who get drunk and fight all the time is right up my alley.)

Actually you don't necessarily have to repaint them. Just add some wolfy bits.

yeah, i should get the conversion kit since my mom will get mad at me if i shave the dog again

MasterOftheScott wrote:So i got the codex a little while back and was daunted by picking a chapter for my space marine army so much that i actually just put the book down and left it for like half a year.The thing is i really really really dont want to do ultramarines and in the codex there is so much stuff on them thats its kinda annoying i mean yes i know they're the poster boys of GW and yes i know they're what people usually want to start with because their simple but really the amount of jibes i would get out of the people i game wtih would be horrendous.So im wondering if any of yous have good ideas for a chapter i could pick?all suggestions except from Ultramarines are welcome

Could you please capitalize your I's? Also, punctuation isn't a replacement for a space. Proper spelling and grammar are appreciated here.

As to what kind of Space Marines you want, what's your favorite color? There's pretty much a different chapter for every color of the rainbow (and even Rainbow Warriors, but the jokes write themselves there) and there's 3 variant codices worth using. Read up on the Lexicanum link that was posted in the first reply for this thread, and make your decision from there.

Sorry for the punctuation errors and such. What I have thought about doing is fashioning them in a black and silver, and fluff them to be a splinter chapter of space wolves. That way I have an easier paint job in my opinion and hopefully the TO will not be a complete jerk about it.

Space Wolves don't have splinter Chapters per-say, but from time to time a Wolf Guard Battle Leader has been known to run off with the detachment he leads and do his own thing. Even more rarely a Wolf Lord will up and leave with his Great Company.

All you'd have to do for this is use SW models and paint them your own colors to show them separating themselves from the main group, either out of spite towards the Legion, or to separate themselves so they do not cause trouble for the Legion they once served.

What about a chapter like the Imperial Fists or the Raven Guard? You have a normal Codex Astartes chapter with similar organisation to the one of the UM and you are not UM.

2 birds with 1 stone there.

Mentor Legion.

The Special Ops of Astartes.

You should play crimson valor, they are a Red, with a Gold wash Space Marine chapter of counts as normale Space Marines and Blood Angles goodness.

White Consuls, Mortifactors, Lamenters, Scythes of the Emperor, Howling Gryphons...

There are many chapters which look good on the tabletop, have some good background and are rare enough o make them a unusual sight
in your local area.

Your own chapter, duh.

Why do you have to use someone else's creation?

Melissia wins the thread.

Honestly, although I like the idea of creating your own stuff, too many people do it. I mean, a homemade chapter is supposed to represent one of the lesser known (smaller) chapters. Too many people play armies that they made up themselves, thus cheapening the concept whenever there is a genuinely good homemade chapter that comes along. Again, personal opinion.

@Jimsolo: There are plenty of hideous representations of established chapters too though. A well thought out DIY chapter is a pretty awesome thing.

Granted, a well done homemade chapter is awesome. But they are, like good stories from aspiring authors via the internet, lost in a sea of crap. When I bought my marines, they were poop brown with green pot leaves painted on the shoulderpads. Some stoner chapter that the old owner thought would be funny. I think that you should have a force of established marines before you play a force of your own devising. I have a few good ideas for new chapters, but I am going to resist the urge and create an established army first.

They're lost in a sea of crap, just like the standard chapters are. GW's fluff for its own chapters is rarely of higher quality than fan-made fluff.

Indeed, I've read more fluff that I actually liked from fan-made chapters than I have for GW's own.

Melissia wrote:They're lost in a sea of crap, just like the standard chapters are. GW's fluff for its own chapters is rarely of higher quality than fan-made fluff.

Indeed, I've read more fluff that I actually liked from fan-made chapters than I have for GW's own.

This. Look around and see what you like the look of and adapt it to your liking. If it were me I'd be doing an Iron hands successor chapter. Just not with a black based color scheme.

You should make a new chapter surrounding a primarch long thought to be lost to us all.

Chuck Norris

I vote Raven Guard. Easy to paint, cool fluff and you don't see too many of them. Whatever you do please don't make up a chapter there are so many to choose from that almost no DIY chapter has been original or even remotely relevant to the fluff of the game

Glimpse The Void wrote:You should make a new chapter surrounding a primarch long thought to be lost to us all.

Chuck Norris

booo.

Monster Rain wrote:Saints preserve us. What kind of hipster toolbags are you playing with if they'd make fun of your choice of army? And if they did, why not just say "Yeah, Ultramarines. Recognize?" Wanting to play something other than Ultras is obviously fine, but the constant hating on them is wearying. /rant

Yeah too right!


next time someone gives to your Ultramarines, just go "yeeaaahhh, that book you read? all the time? tells you all about your tactics and your force organization? so uhh... who wrote that again?"


Poster boys they may be, they are also filled with greco/roman symoblism, and if you are a history buff that might be the reason you play them- same as someone who's into the crusades and the middle ages might be more inclined to play Black Templars!

Agreed with the above- what kind of hipster douchebags are you playing with?

Yeeessshhh,sir.

You should make a new chapter surrounding a primarch long thought to be lost to us all.

Chuck Norris