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Whilst up visiting some family I was given a bunch of space marines and a SM codex. these included a bunch of SM scouts, some jet pack dudes, a dreadnaught and some bikers along with a command squad. but my question to you people of Dakka is how to make them look unique as an army (as so many people collect and play them)!

There are lots of different MArine kits out there, so you could try some kit bashing. Go with a unique, or rare paint scheme. Use transfers from other armies. Those are just some idea's I have right now.

What I'm doing for mine are painting them white, and using the shoulderpad(assault symbols, tactical arrows, imperial fist etc) bits you can order from GW. I've also picked up the Black Templar and Dark Angels upgrade sprue's. I plan on giving my Command squad the robes from the Dark Angels(kit-bashed with the Command Squad box), and I'm thinking of using the Black Templar tabards for my sergeants etc...

Color them red, black, blue, yellow and pink. Congrats, you now have SM Power Rangers.

Its already been mentioned, but there are a plethora of ways to make your army unique and personalize it to your liking. Even without kit bashing (mixing pieces from what kit to another) , heavy converting, or molding your own pieces you can still make something personal. Color choices, the Chapter you choose, your basing, decals, these are all ways to make an army unique. I think your questions is very general and you should ask something more specific. The best advice I could give you if your looking to do something real original or unique would be to start with a theme to your army. You dont have to emmerse yourself with an in depth storyline, just an idea of maybe where your chapter is from, what their fighting tactics are like, possibly beliefs, what inspires them. Build on your ideas....also looking at the work of other people can help as well. Best of luck!

My advice is to be less concerned about making them unique and more concerned about making them awesome. I've seen too many armies that look absolutely awful, just because the painter said "Hmm... I want to be absolutely unique. To that end, I will devise a scheme that involves no less than five obnoxiously bright colors, including metallics, that I will apply in a horribly complex and disjointed pattern. My army will look like it spent a few years stored in the toilets at an all you can eat rainbow buffet, but I'll be different, damn it!"

An established but relatively uncommon chapter with themed basing will garner you more respect, if done reasonably well, than the most original but slapdash chapter in the world. Think of one or two cool themes - distinct home environment, trademark weapons, particular icons/accessories carried, etc. - and build off of that/those.

Think of creating a chapter like cooking: There's an established pool of ingredients and we all seek to combine them in new and interesting ways. There are also certain pairings that work better than others, which can be given new twists with the inclusion of a unique garnish or one exotic ingredient. However, as original and new as it might be, nobody wants to eat pickled squid encrusted with coffee grounds, served on a bed of avocado, malt vinegar, and boiled cow tongue.

The basing and amount of weathering you do to your marines can make even a simple chapter paint scheem look rly nice and unique.

I had an idea making marines already dead (lying on ground with blood and stuff) and ofcourse painting them blue.

All armies have different themes (iron hands have their tech, DA have their dresses (i kid the sons of lion), BT have their zeal, ect.) Pick a theme that is different, but one you like, otherwise you won't feel motivated. Even ultramarines can be unique with an interesting theme. Also unique bases for your unique models effectively doubles your uniqueness.

If you want them to stand out, read as much background as you can. Its a great source of inspiration. Older articles usally have some unique paint schemes, like the raptors blizzard camo for example, or howling griffons insurgancy colours ( and those 2 are just from an old wd badab war article ) or just invent your own.

Get imagiantive. The easiest thing to do is try and right some sort of story about their history first, and see where that takes you, it helps with me. My LATD went from being 'not very corrupted' LATD, but LATD nonetheless, to pawns of a demon, they are like toys to him, HIS 40k. I wrote the background first and then decided on markings ect.