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Something I love about WH40K over other settings, is that it gives you the tools to make whichever army you like "yours". Tyranids have numerous varied mutations to work with, Dark Eldar have their Kabals, Space Marines have their succesor chapters, Orks have whatever they freakin' want etc... and I like nothing more than to see the different ways people have themed out their armies.

So essentially, if you're not running a "vanilla" army, what is it? And why did you go for it?

I'll soon be starting my lightly steam punked themed "Clockwork Kabal" (would have started already, ran into money problems). I chose mixing DE and steampunk because, while I loved their fluff, I thought it was missing something, namely, where the hell do all these ships come from, and how can I make their being build Dark Elder-e. So, I have a Kabal that gains it's painful nourishment from the screams of slaves who work their factories.

I run an Iron Warriors army themed around their siege specialties. As a result it runs three Land Raiders. I themed the models by using the Iron Warriors conversion kit for every single Marine in the army. Makes the army pretty distinctive, and adds some flavor to just using the Chaos codex with unmarked Marines.

I run Iron Warriors too.

Working on my Crimson Fists at the moment, once I get the standard list down, I'm making a first company list, with Kantor and 3 units of sternguard.

My Orks don't have a theme perse (besides being Bad Moons) but I'm planning on one of my nob squads to be all goff rockers

Orks - speed freek army. Everything has a ride before it was cool to have a ride. The exception is the one unit of stormboys, but since they can keep up with the trukks and buggies its all good.

Chaos - Emperors Children. All units in multiples of 6, everything in the army has a Mark of Slannesh.

Tau - no theme

Space wolves - mobilized with drop pod support. Not a real theme, but it works.

RussianThemed IG.

Valhallan troops + mordian officers as autocrat/tzarist officers.

Looking into adding penal guard with wooden mock up las guns and only a few 'real' loaded guns between them.

my current force is supposed to be motorized though. When I can get it finished properly.

DIY SM Chapter is currently being worked on...
My stand to army is a Logan Wing which represents the Assault force of Kyrle Grimblood and his Oathbrothers during their assault on the traitor guards forces that besieged Fenris and the Fang for over 3 years. (Unsuccessfully obviously)

I have a few themed armies.
1. Blood Pact : Converted DKOK moddels, with bitzs og WoC/ Beastmen trown in.
2. Red Corsairs with no Huron, since he sucks Tyrannind balls

Not sure if it counts as a theme or a stratagy but:

Blob guard with a massive amount of outflanking. Straken leads the head of the bull, Al Rahem leads the horns. When the bull's head ties down the enemy, the horns trap them from behind.

(I know I'm stealing the metaphor, but I've seen Zulu too many times)

Osyr wrote:Not sure if it counts as a theme or a stratagy but:

Blob guard with a massive amount of outflanking. Straken leads the head of the bull, Al Rahem leads the horns. When the bull's head ties down the enemy, the horns trap them from behind.

(I know I'm stealing the metaphor, but I've seen Zulu too many times)

It's more of a strategy...
Theme implies something to do with the background of the army effecting the composition of the army...
Example: I have a Tactical squad in my DIY army who are tank killers and city fighters. To show this i have given them a meltagun and the sergeant uses a power fist however they don't have a heavy weapon due to terrain and the close quarters of their usual terrain.

I currently run a ork freebooter army, "Da Plundaboys". They're all exrtremely rich, and i try to make my lists according to that.

AND im planning "freebooter" IG. Theyll be a bunch of veterans with pumpguns jumping out of various count-as vendettas (stormraven, falcon, tau-tanks), supported by a truck with a tv-dish-thingy, wich will tell the mothership where to shoot the several tons of scrap wich were collected for that purpose only. Itll count as a manticore.

I run "Da Great Looted Waaagh!" - basically an Ork army that loots anything and everything into a giant Waaagh! to challenge the idea that a Waaagh! can't be run by a Big Mek. Though I never really ran them, I did always plan to run 3 battlewagons that were looted from other armies - a Leman Russ, a Land Raider (with Orks sticking out of the sponson holes) and an Eldar Fire Prism being powered by a bunch of grots holding it up.

I really picked the army because I fell in love with the Loota unit in the codex. Just the idea of running an army that could, theoretically, put out 105 shots a turn in 3 units made me giggle like a schoolgirl. From there I came up with the idea of making an army that's completely looted - nothing matches, everything comes from somewhere else.

I run a Word Bearer's list..... with no daemons, and a heavy amount of armor, so i'm the unofficial Word Bearers Armor Chapter. (i'm working on the daemons).

my ork theme isda kaptain's army.... kaptain B is always ther though often on the sideline. sometimes he throws his endless horde of 180 orks at the enemy, sometimes its shooy ork with 2 SAG other times he will risk his battlewagons if the treasure is high enough... rarely he gets a client paying enough to warrent him and his flash gitz to take the field and not just pillage after the battle.

for my space marines it is a theme of heavy armor master of the forge with 3 dreds for heavy, sometimes 3 dreds elites though often termies teleporting in. dreds all come in drop pods. tac marines hold objectives and a few lasbacks

for eldar... i haven't found it yet. I jsut got the army... but I'm thinking monster-dar wraithguard, wraithlords, avatar and a few jet bike troops

Cadians painted Victorian British Empire colours, dark red with cream body armour.
Long term plan is to have a Union flag Battle Standard.
I don't feel like I need to explain why Rawke's Drift with battle cannons is OMGAWESOME.

I'm working towards an Astral Claws army that can be run pre- and post-secession. (will probably require replacement squad leaders, terminators, and not a ton else)

Joey wrote:Cadians painted Victorian British Empire colours, dark red with cream body armour.
Long term plan is to have a Union flag Battle Standard.
I don't feel like I need to explain why Rawke's Drift with battle cannons is OMGAWESOME.

*Rorke's Drift...

I had a Farsight Enclave themed Tau army.

Currently building a mechanized Blood Angels army.




The best army I have seen themed so far, is a Sanguinary Guard Army with Dante and the Sanguinor. Nothing really competes in my books with an army of angels lol

I run Sons of Medusa with the IA Iron Thane. So basically five Dreadnoughts and the special Devastator squad.

I'm indecisive so just run a Chaos Army that incorporates almost everything, explained away through my own fluff.

I'm making a Necron Hunters GK army


GM Yoshimi and company are gonna stop those evil machines

I have a Tyranid army that has a mutation for extra spikes and armor, and I've called them hivefleet manticore.

I'm currently making a mech guard army specialising in hazardous enviroments (as they buggered their own one up enough already), but I'm also trying to represent what happens to a guard regiment a few decades down the line from its founding. If new recruits aren't coming in at a steady rate you find that all that's left are the die-hards and other ecentrics that somehow managed to survive a few decades in the Emperor's service; whilst even if another regiment is folded into the whole (in my case it being a heavy infantry regiment that just have the enviroment equiptment as standard). So yeah, lots of personal equiptment, a decline in dicipline, scuffed up armour, vehicles and weapons picked up from a dozen battlefields and worlds, and...erm...chinese lanters. That kind of thing.^^

Not sure if it counts, but...

my Imperial Guard, the 1st Shadowsreach, is an armored regiment haling from a volcanic mining world that is supported by a several devastated city fight regiments that where formed together under the banner of the 1088th Cadian. My tanks have a black/grey camo scheme while my infantry have a dark blue/metallic tan scheme and are made up of models from different regiments.

I've recently started pre-heresy space wolves and based them so that their smashing their way through Tizca. It plays horribly as its a wolf guard list with about 30 guys and a contemptor at 1750 (everyone is armed with whatever expensive weapons I thought would help individualize the models.. 33 points average and no more survivable than a regular marine ).

My Tau army is a Farsight Enclave one which has been left out in the field so they salvage any parts they can, and they sometimes keep war trophies.

While my Grey Knights army is in truth a Radical Ordo Xenos force, so there are many conversions/counts as. For example any Stormravens I use I''m using slightly converted Valks, any Dreadnoughts as Armored Sentinels. So over all the force looks more like an Imperial Guard force with Inquisition symbols all around.

Adrenaline EC. Everything either flies or has a damn big gun. It would be fly or music, but I needed Havocs...

Going to start Crimson Fists soon, and Im going to try to get it up to its curret fluff strength of about half, so 500 or so marines, 128 of them being 1st company vets, and some of the rest will be scouts.

Tyranid Baemoth (I have no idea how to spell that word. Lol) to go aside my Ultramarine army. I don't have to explain why

I'm also thinking about a urban camo SW army. I have th earmy, just need to decide on paint scheme, but urban camo is high on my list of do to. no wait, to do