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So for a new Space Marine army im making id like to have many of the models have different color schemes (mostly because I cant decide on one ever and always change my mind halfway through a unit). Either individual to the squad or a Individual warrior choice. But I want some fluff for them to back them up and was thinking possibly a more independent Space Marine chapter that cut ties with the Imperium yet has not fallen to Chaos. Possibly do to their Gene seed they seem much more human in feelings, they also assossiate with some Xenos for instance the Eldar (my favorites) and the Tau. One of the unique things about them though would be how they let each of their Warriors (possibly squads) customize their own armor to their own tastes. I was even thinking to go so far as that they control and manage multiple planets of their own Coexisting with some radical thinking Eldar, this would also allow me to create some Imperial Guard troops for them in the future as ive wanted some. So is this to far fetched or even possible in the 40k universe?? also if so provide some alternatives for my indecisive color choosing. Lastly before I forget I was thinking they'd be called Destiny's Outlaws or Fates Outlaws.

In terms of a load of different colour schemes there are renegades that have a load of marines from various chapters working together. The BL Iron Warriors Omnibus mentions one where each marine paints over their chapter symbol with a large red cross, I think they were called the Red Corsairs. They haven't fallen to chaos but they aren't IoM anymore either. As for working with Xenos I doubt it very much, I definitely don't see the Eldar working with Astartes long term.

Might be able to explain it better as them being a Renegade Chapter cuts them off from Imperial/AdMech support, so they have to repair or replace their PA suits and other wargear by whatever they can scavenge or steal from other SM Chapters.

If some of the ideas are not irredeemably bad, the concept as a whole does not fit well with the general tone and atmosphere of Warhammer 40,000. Alliances between the setting's various factions (the Tau and their co-prosperity sphere aside) are generally presented as rare and invariably as temporary - this all sounds a bit too upbeat and Star Trek-ish to me.

Edit: silly typos.

You could have a crusade army...
Each squad uses a different colour scheme.

I was thinking more along the lines of the Eldar not neccerily wanting to work with them. But having to for their own surivial, a mutual survival situation one of them abadons the other they both die. Also thats Renegade Chapter is what I meant by them being rebels and such (I think I mentioned them being rebels. Also not craftworld Eldar but homeworld Eldar would be what they are working with, neither really want to work together but must. They stay exclusive to themselves except in battle. In society they (and the marines citizens on the planets) are both isolated from one another.

You could do it where each squad has a pauldron that's a different color with unique squad insignia. And each different type of unit (devestator, assault, tactical...) has a different color helmet and trim on their pauldrons.

But I wouldn't try end make the main color of the army the same so your army has a cohesive feel to it.

Marshall Ragnar wrote:But I wouldn't try end make the main color of the army the same so your army has a cohesive feel to it.

This: see most of 2nd edition for examples of why multicoloured armies seldom look good on the table.

It occurs to me that you might find looking up the Ordo Xenos, in particular its radical factions, helpful in making your ideas fit in with the setting's background and style. I can just about imagine a certain sort of Inquisitor (or, come to think of it, a Rogue Trader) and his Astartes escort, operating somewhere beyond the Imperium's boundaries, obliged to co-operate with the filthy heathen alien scum embrace the galaxy's diversity of sapient life and welcome their alien allies.

It occurs to me that a completly uncohesive force wouldent look well. In reality it would also make distinguish allies on foes extremely diffucult as well. And due to that I was thinking of keeping one of the shoulder pads a uniform color as well as possibly the kneepads (maybe the backpack or helmet as well). As much as Ordos Xenos would work it doesnt really strike me as a force that would make heavy use of large amounts of ordnace or even have access to many weapons much less be able to feild all of these at once.

Prism wrote:I was thinking more along the lines of the Eldar not neccerily wanting to work with them. But having to for their own surivial, a mutual survival situation one of them abadons the other they both die. Also thats Renegade Chapter is what I meant by them being rebels and such (I think I mentioned them being rebels. Also not craftworld Eldar but homeworld Eldar would be what they are working with, neither really want to work together but must. They stay exclusive to themselves except in battle. In society they (and the marines citizens on the planets) are both isolated from one another.

What do you mean 'homeworld eldar'?

Homeworld eldar are all dead by 10000 years, if you mean the Exodites on a Maiden World then you would come up to a major fluff wall in that they a. Still possess all their tech, they just chose not to use it and b. They have strong links with the Craft Worlds and Harlequins and both groups would give aid if fever nessecary to the Exodites. All Maiden Worlds also have Webway portals as well.

Sorry thank you for correcting me and yes I meant Exodite Eldar. It must have just jumped in my head while I was writing that of homeworld Eldar and down it went. I was thinking that they would, instead of fighting for their maiden worlds just decide to co-exist with the humans. I did know they still possessed all their technology and had ties with the Craftworlds.

That would go against every piece of fluff about Maiden Worlds we have, Craftworld Eldar will even destroy intruders on Maiden Worlds without a current Eldar population.

It would also be very unfluffy for any group of Eldar to coexist with human (especially space marines) groups longer than for a battle, as Eldar all have a very high opinion of themselves and a very low opinion of humans.

Come to think of it, I've never understood why Renegade Chapters don't ever depend on Rogue Traders for much of anything.

It's like a dead fluff space.

If you want a Renegade Chapter to dabble with either alien tech or aliens (directly or indirectly), then having a couple Rogue Traders feeding them supplies and materials--in exchange for protection--for the entire Chapter.

And alien interaction is possible, the Tau did it when they tried to convince a Space Marine Captain not to engange in war (but failing miserably).

Interactions with Necrons and Tau are more realistic than Eldar, though Rogue Traders seem to have some nifty stuff from these enigmatic Space Elves...

KplKeegan wrote:Come to think of it, I've never understood why Renegade Chapters don't ever depend on Rogue Traders for much of anything.

It's like a dead fluff space.

If you want a Renegade Chapter to dabble with either alien tech or aliens (directly or indirectly), then having a couple Rogue Traders feeding them supplies and materials--in exchange for protection--for the entire Chapter.

And alien interaction is possible, the Tau did it when they tried to convince a Space Marine Captain not to engange in war (but failing miserably).

Interactions with Necrons and Tau are more realistic than Eldar, though Rogue Traders seem to have some nifty stuff from these enigmatic Space Elves...

That sounds like It will work perfectly. Also gives me a reason to have some nifty things within the ranks of the marines that they use from those nice Rogue Traders. Its also dead on how its pretty much a dead fluff space. In regards to the maiden world things ill just have to find some way around it that will probally involve the traders and if it so strongly goes against the fluff the only other Eldar faction I can really think of is the Pirates. If they dont work ill think of my own splinter faciton of Eldar to use. GW leaves many avenues open for people im sure I can find one that would suite my needs.

If you want a Renegade Chapter to dabble with either alien tech or aliens (directly or indirectly), then having a couple Rogue Traders feeding them supplies and materials--in exchange for protection--for the entire Chapter.

Couple of problems for the RT here, and the Chapter in general. One, if the SMs are giving the RT protection, they fly where he flies, not where they might want to fly. Two, this RT might be operating *way* outside his Warrant of Trade, which the Administratum/Inquisition will eventually learn about... generally through other RTs who want in on this guy's action. This leads to Two-B, which is the Renegade Chapter being drawn into a conflict with Imperial Agencies they really don't have a hope of beating. Renegade SMs show up to defend possibly-heretical RT? =I= just confirmed that the RT is a heretic, and has Renegade Astartes with him... time to call in the Wolves/Ultras/Storm Wardens/Black Templars/Blood Angels/Insert Loyal Chapter Here.

This works well from a table-top battle point of view, as it helps explain why your Renegade Chapter is fighting whatever Imperial Army it's fighting this week, but from a storytelling point of view... well, this can really only end one way.

Also, there's as many different kinds of RTs as there are people in the Imperium. Some will be jerks, some will be saints. Finding an RT to support the idea isn't hard, really, though I would kinda wonder how these SM and this RT met in the first place. It's not like they can hang around Anchorhead's on Mos Eisley waiting for someone to make the run to Alderaan, no questions asked.

Psienesis wrote:

If you want a Renegade Chapter to dabble with either alien tech or aliens (directly or indirectly), then having a couple Rogue Traders feeding them supplies and materials--in exchange for protection--for the entire Chapter.

Couple of problems for the RT here, and the Chapter in general. One, if the SMs are giving the RT protection, they fly where he flies, not where they might want to fly. Two, this RT might be operating *way* outside his Warrant of Trade, which the Administratum/Inquisition will eventually learn about... generally through other RTs who want in on this guy's action. This leads to Two-B, which is the Renegade Chapter being drawn into a conflict with Imperial Agencies they really don't have a hope of beating. Renegade SMs show up to defend possibly-heretical RT? =I= just confirmed that the RT is a heretic, and has Renegade Astartes with him... time to call in the Wolves/Ultras/Storm Wardens/Black Templars/Blood Angels/Insert Loyal Chapter Here.

This works well from a table-top battle point of view, as it helps explain why your Renegade Chapter is fighting whatever Imperial Army it's fighting this week, but from a storytelling point of view... well, this can really only end one way.

Also, there's as many different kinds of RTs as there are people in the Imperium. Some will be jerks, some will be saints. Finding an RT to support the idea isn't hard, really, though I would kinda wonder how these SM and this RT met in the first place. It's not like they can hang around Anchorhead's on Mos Eisley waiting for someone to make the run to Alderaan, no questions asked.

Perhaps the RT has already violated his trade warrant and is seeking protection? For I cant really think of many forms that would be as good protection as a Chapter of Space Marines. Another solution is that the RT needs protections from some other form of threat and the threat outweighs the risk of helping the marines out. As for the Marines having to go with the RT I dont mind that as I can make him of a similar mindset of the Chapter so their travel destinations dont overtly conflict.

Prism wrote:

Psienesis wrote:

If you want a Renegade Chapter to dabble with either alien tech or aliens (directly or indirectly), then having a couple Rogue Traders feeding them supplies and materials--in exchange for protection--for the entire Chapter.

Couple of problems for the RT here, and the Chapter in general. One, if the SMs are giving the RT protection, they fly where he flies, not where they might want to fly. Two, this RT might be operating *way* outside his Warrant of Trade, which the Administratum/Inquisition will eventually learn about...

Perhaps the RT has already violated his trade warrant and is seeking protection? For I cant really think of many forms that would be as good protection as a Chapter of Space Marines. Another solution is that the RT needs protections from some other form of threat and the threat outweighs the risk of helping the marines out. As for the Marines having to go with the RT I dont mind that as I can make him of a similar mindset of the Chapter so their travel destinations dont overtly conflict.

Don't forget that the Imperium is a huge place and information travels extremely slow when compared to today. "Eventually" finding out about a violation might be after the Rogue Trader's grandson has taken over the warrant, if even then.

And as long as the right wheels are greased and no evidence turns up in the wrong places the powerful can do almost anything. The RT should ofc be very careful with what he brings in from the uncharted reaches - if he has the good sense to leave rare and possibly tainted artifacts alone and concentrates on "known" safe things like luxury goods, small (and not too exotic) pieces of tech and such his dealings won't really draw that much attention. Add in diplomacy and he's probably able to deflect most cursory inquiries without resorting to crude bribery - a chunk of money is bribery, a personalized eldar las-weapon is a gift and not too much xeno tech to draw attention.

OK so with all the advice here is what I got.

The Chapter now known as Destiny's Outlaws has now gone renegade, where they are is currently unknown. The chapter master is known as Prism Blint whom supports high individuality not normally seen in most Space Marines. Each marine customizes his own armor free to do anything to it other than, degrade the armor to make it less effective, or change the colors or markings on each marines shoulder pads that helps them recognize one another. This has made sightings of them much harder to track as it cannot be ascertained who is being seen. They work with the Rouge Trader Artemus Stern whom supplies them in exchange for their protection on his more risky forays. Such journeys nearly always are recovering precious technology and artifacts from extremely hostile environments and planets. Some of these operations are beyond even the full strength of the chapter and as such the Eldar pirate group known as The Night Angels. Recently Artemus has granted the Chapter a newly conquered world in witch to have their own base of operations and recruitment center. They have begun to structure its own military from the human's (long detached from the Imperium) that reside there. This planet is named Libera, it is very much like Earth.