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I would just like to bring a new discussion to you out of interest

I always try to think of army composition and fluff, trying to match up how my armies fight to the way in which I have personally thought out their background.

This sometimes means I take a less useful unit for fluff reasons when I know I could just be going for the kill. A good example is the traditional DE Baron+Beast pack combo, I would always rather shove him in a swarm of his Hellions even though they are expensive points wise and not particularly competitive.

So my question is... how would your background affect your FOC if you had to write a few changes? Give me a small description of your own fluff which I always love to read, and how it would change the army.

Note I don't really wanna see huge changes, like army wide special rules you have created or characters or anything. Just a shift between eg Troops and Elites, 0-1,1+ units etc or even just a general feel of your army based off fluff, or a self imposed restriction you feel makes the game more interesting for you personally.

I'll start!

Back when there was no way to play them together in a normal game, I always considered my DE and Eldar part of the same team since they were my creations, so wrote accordingly and just collected both armies seperately. Now however, I have a whole new world of alliances

So Craftworld Alta'yre suffered as all the Eldar did, and started dwindling right after the fall. Just when it seemed the flame would be burnt out, they essentially sold their soul and entered a pact with an emerging Kabal fresh out of the Webway. What the Kabal was looking for was a small base to stage invasions from when Webway travel was not practical. In return, the Dark Eldar offered to blow life back into the fading Craftworld by teaching them the artificial ways of reproducing life. In this way, Alta'yre was restored even beyond starting numbers, and is now one of the most populous Craftworlds for it's size. The downside to this is that a much higher percentage lose control of themselves and disappear to exile, to return as strangers or self styled pirate lords, or to remain lost. It also creates a much less disciplined society, meaning the path system is much more flimsy.

Altay're has a 2+ restriction on Rangers and Guardians together, meaning the first two troops slots must be filled with any combination of the two. This represents the main force being made up of unskilled masses and those who have left the discipline of the Cratfworld.
It also has a 0-2 restriction on every unit considered an Aspect warrior unit.
The casual make up is mech, as they have enough people to make tanks and pilot them. I would like to say I have a special rule where vehicles cost half the points, but that may be pushing it

The Kabal of the Jaded Ruin is one of the larger, yet less powerful Kabals. It is made up of the bits and pieces of this failed rebellion or that one, all Kabalites who harbour a resentment towards Vect. What the Archon realises however, is that Commoragh is Vects playground, and no amount of power will stand against his now. The Jaded Ruin therefore takes a different approach, and aims to establish power in realspace. For this reason, they have stopped attacking and could even be described as acting loyally towards Craftworld Alta'yre and several Tau septs, creating a network where all involved stand to gain.

Less restricted, except with DE I always like to theme it Kabal/Coven/Cult, matching HQ with at least one Troop from it's own section.

Eldar/DE alliance: same Eldar make up, DE must take a Haemonculus, the main representative for the alliance, as he was the one who negotiated the repopulation price, and is always present when the two sides meet.

Cool background. I'll give it a go..

1st Shadowsreach Armored "The Ironbreakers"

Armored regiments are the sledge hammer of the Imperial Guard, and fact most evident when observing the 1st Shadowsreach Armored at war. Hailing from the volcanic moon of Shadowsreach in Segmentum Ultima, the moon’s vicious tectonic activity caused by the gas giant it orbit makes permanent settlement impossible while simultaneously and constantly unearthing vast ore and mineral deposits. To cope with this, the population on the surface of the moon lives in massive walking cities that migrate from deposit to deposit, harvesting resources till their store houses is full. Once full, the cites travel to the only stable land mass on the moon and off load their hauls into massive orbital elevators that take the raw material to Skyforge, a massive orbital structure, were it is processed and either shipped off world or used in Skyforge’s manufactorums. These vast resources and manufacturing capabilities have kept Shadowsreach well under Imperial control despite its location in frontier space. The people of Shadowsreach are hard working and technically minded as well as remarkably pious given location on the fringe of Imperial space.

When the Departmento Munitorum issued a call to raise a regiment, the moon’s government feared that the massive tithes required to raise the regiment would cripple its ability to maintain the tithes already imposed on them for raw materials and war machines because it possessed a relatively small population. Using connections they had within the Adeptus Mechanicus (who had a vested interest in the mines and factories on the world), they gain an audience with the local Departmento Munitorum representative and explained their plight. As Shadowsreach did represented one of the few reliable industrial worlds in the sector, a modification was granted to Shadowsreach; the tithe for warmachines would be increased, but they would be required to rise only a single regiment, and at the suggestion of the Mechanicus, an armored regiment as it required less personal and would take advantage of the moon’s natural armored vehicle production. As the blacken hulls of the regiment’s Leman Russes rolled off the assembly lines, the Departmento Munitorum sent teams of officers and commissars to train the burgeoning regiment. They were found to be lacking in infantry skills, but when the Shadowsreachian people mounded their armored warbeasts, their natural skills with machines showed, producing fine tankers for such a green regiment.

The 1st Shadowsreach Armored is best represented by the armored battalion army list from FW, but few people around here will agree to let me use it, so the tanks of the 1st fight along side the 1881st Cadia Dragoons (my mechanized regiment) in regular games. Also, Shadowsreachian tanks have ceramic plating fixed to their outer hull in a similar to the to the mining crawlers used on the volcanic surface. Game wise, this reduces melta weapons to an extra D3 instead of a D6 for armor penetration.

The Rialto Bridge Grenadiers. They're the first regiment from their world, which is obviously Rialto Bridge. It's themed around Italian architecture, weapons, armor, and style.

Regimental Organization:

Captain Decio Alatorre + Command Squad

Sergeant Pavisi, Sergeant Tius

100 Grenadiers (in game, they're stormtroopers)


The actual troops are local militia or auxiliary forces; the Grenadiers are the real soldiers.

So, a list would look like:

Decio (Straken rules; modelled that way)+Command Squad, 2 bodyguards, OoF

1-5 units of Stormtroopers

2-7 units of Militia (Guardsmen with option for free shotguns, autopistols, laspistols, old rifles) would be taken in squads of 10-20 and replaces the Guard Platoon

Rifle: Str AP Special Rules
3 5 Heavy 1

Oh, and there is always a LRBT in the list called Rollo

Sorry if the list and fluff was short, but the main guys are really supposed to be in small groups in Valkyria Chronicles style with 20 guys and a little support. Terrible to play with, fun to use.

Krieg Siege regiment, veterans from the Siege of Vraks, and thus always has a squad of Grenadiers as well as a custom Officier that gives special stuff to said Grenadiers.

I read somewhere that Engineers are also Krieg veterans, might be wrong tho, so I'll have at least a full squad of those with their drill of awesome.

All Heavy Support slots are filled with artillery.

All remaining Elite slots are filled with artillery.

There will be a Commissar General to keep the regiment in check, after all they did just fought the forces of Chaos for 16 years.

There will be a Company commanding officer as well as quartermaster.

Well damn you 2 HQ limit...

A platoon of 3 squad with heavy weapon squads will there as well.

Awesome, loving the themes.

No one else? Do we not have any ork/tau/chaos/tyranid fluff writers??

While I don't have any 100% fluffy lists, I refuse to let a Destroyer Lord be my armies Warlord. I always take an Overlord to represent my actual army leader, ain't no insane Destroyer Lord leading my crons! No sir!

While I typically just proxy in those units that I typically wouldn't be able to use in game, or just don't allow myself others, I don't exactly go all out in designing my lists to be fluffy. By that I mean I do have a semi clear idea about my army's fluff, but I'm always open to adding new units to it- proxying them if need be.

With the new Chaos codex coming out I've been thinking of revamping my existing army to match its true scale models more. At the moment the models are the size of Terminators and have enough junk on them to qualify as Chosen, so why not just make them those? (That is unless Chosen are crap). The force I'm fielding for them now is meant to be either a raiding force, or one that'd be sent out to take care of any threat on one of their recruiting worlds. So to that extent I've disallowed anything that isn't infantry. Though in apocalypse I may field three landraiders, those are loaded with Khorne Berzerkers, which in my army are the relegious fanatics, so represent warband releasing the crazies with the escalation in the conflict. I'd like to field an army with a center of elite chosen (ie normal traitor legionaires), surrounded by waves of normal human fighters(cultists, local rebels, allied pirates/mercenaries), in the style of the novelia though.

^^ Reading Flesh and Iron lately's solidified the idea of this style of force for me. Though they may be fighting in an Imperial city, who's to say that the world hasn't been a recruiting world for the marines for much longer than the Imperial arrived? A handful of traitor marines deploying at the end of a long guerilla conflict to help to rebels take the cities. ...And the character Baedyr from that novel just has to be made in the guise of the head of the human element of the marine's pirate fleet (ie Vraksian Renegade Militia).

I'd like my salamanders to have Initiative 3.9 (slower than marines, faster than humans), be able to take meltaguns in assault squads, have MC th and TL flamers/melta without having to take vulkan AND that the LRR flamecannon counts as a flamer weapon.

Justicare Thawn and St. Celestine! take that necron RP's! wmahahaha

Well, my fluff based list involves an Allied list with Space Marines as the Primary codex, and Sisters of Battle as the Allied codex.

I had to mold the fluff around the rules a bit so that Acts of Faith and Scouts having S4, T4 and boltguns actually makes sense.

Basically, after a few decades of Imperial rule after being rediscovered by a mining fleet, the planet of Tyragas broke off all ties. They'd installed massive interstellar engines on their planet, as well as necessary devices to keep their planet alive in the depths of space, providing heat and light and other necessary conditions. Their main military is the TDF (Tyragasi Defence Forces), who are magically and technologically enhanced humans, represented by Scouts and Scout Bikers. Other organizations include the Hellfire Marines and the Sisters of the Flame. The Hellfire Marines are former Chaos Space Marines who have been converted away from their dark gods. The Sisters of the Flame are former Sisters of Battle who have been convinced of the injustice of the Ecclesiarchy through technological means, and later lost their faith in the Emperor. The planet now wanders the stars, seeking out any of their surviving citizens who had been inducted into the Imperial Guard.

The TDF have three types of units (so far): Suppression Squads, Line Squads, and Strike Squads. Suppression Squads lay down long-ranged fire, with long rifles and heavy bolters. Line Squads are the most common units, and form the bulk of the TDF, armed with Boltguns for the most part, with either a missile launcher or a heavy bolter as their heavy weapon. Strike Squads are fast-moving support units, mounted on bikes. The restrictions I lay down on them is that apart from the Sergeants of Line Squads, I don't field them with Bolt Pistols and CCWs, and even for the Sergeants, it's just to tell them apart on the tabletop. I use the Scout and Scout Biker rules and models to represent these guys, and I always use them to form the bulk of my Troops selections.

The Hellfire Marines are under the command of a magic-user named Kurisu, who possesses significant lands and facilities for equipping his troops and developing new weapons. Their Dreadnoughts are piloted through AI rather than the remains of a great hero. I don't really impose many restrictions on them, except that if I took a Techmarine, I wouldn't take Servitors. For an HQ, I always take one of my Kurisu models, but I use him as either a Captain, Chapter Master, or Librarian, depending on how I want to use him.

The Hellfire Marines also have organized a few small units that specialize in dealing with the most obscene horrors of the galaxy, known as the Hellfire Knights. The Hellfire Knights use the Grey Knight Codex and models, but so far I haven't fielded them. I don't use Paladins, Purifiers, Psybolt Ammo, Dreadknights, Inquisitors, their warband thingies, or any of the Special Characters. For an HQ, I always use a Brother-Captain.

The Sisters of the Flame are also at the command of the same magic-user as the Hellfire Marines. Their Acts of Faith represent technological devices that were necessary to boost their combat effectiveness after they lost their faith in the Emperor. Retributors, for example, have a few rounds of armor-piercing ammunition that they can use if necessary. Battle Sisters possess better targeting systems that consume a lot of power, but are incompatible with their power armor. The invulnerable save represents a layer of magical protection. Their Penitent Engines, like the Hellfire Marines' Dreadnoughts, use AI instead of a living pilot. I don't use Repentia, as their new ideology finds such things to be abhorrent. I don't use Ecclesiarchial Priests. I always field Celestine, representing a great heroine of the Sisters of the Flame named Lady Valeria Hortensia, who was slain by the death throes of an Ork Warboss - she was grabbed by his power klaw, and shoved her power sword through his skull - before being revived through advanced technology.

As a result, my list basically looks like this:

1 Captain OR Chapter Master OR Librarian
1 Saint Celestine

2 squads of Scouts
1 squad of Battle Sisters

And the rest is fit to taste.

My current list added the following:

1 squad of Devastators
1 Exorcist

. . . and uses a Captain instead of Chapter Master or Librarian.

And that brought me to 1,000 points.

While I don't have any home brew fluff, my 2nd Company Crimson Fists army lists always, ALWAYS start off with the following:

Tactical Squad w/10 marines
Scout Squad w/5-10 scouts
Sternguard w/5-10 veterans

Everything else gets added in after those spots are filled. As the Crimson Fists are a rebuilding chapter with an abundance of battle hardened veterans, Sternguard and Scouts just make sense. Also, Tactical Marines are the most veteran of the basic marine types, so it goes back to that whole veteran presence. Being the 2nd company, the presence of tacticals should be noticable while assault and devastator squads are in fewer numbers (since the company only has 2 squads of each)

By mere coincidence, I've got a couple of older tanks from 2nd edition that I frequently use, which is perfect because it represents the company repurposing older vehicles out of desperation.

I don't have specific back story for any of my armies, but I definitely like to play themed lists. For example, I play a Craftworld Alaitoc army, so I always have at least 2 squads of rangers/pathfinders.

My chaos I usually play a very mixed black legion army, and where points allow I try to take a unit representing each god. Typically I take a Slaaneshi Daemon Prince and CSM with the MoS, Plague Marines, Berzerkers, and a Sorcerer of Tzeentch.

With my Orks, I like to play a very Kult of speed list with all troops in a trukk, lots of war buggies and bikes, and a dakkajet if I can. I haven't played this army in 6th yet though, so I'm not sure how effective they'll be, but the other two tend to do fairly well.

The Ultramarines 4th Company from Graham Macneill's books.

2 Regiments working with each other (Infantry/Armor Cadian Regiments)

The Infantry (812th) has a Commissar attached to it and who goes where he is need [I use a Lord but he doesnt have that rank in his fluff]

The Army is designed around an American order of battle (3 Infantry Squads and a HWS with 3 PLTs) with the HWS being designed to deal with multiple targets (2 Autos sense Cadians like it and a Lascannon so they have Anti-tank)

They also have Sentinels Squadron backing them as a mobile fire base that goes where needed (Armor/Autos)


May not be the mose effective force but Im more interested in the collecting aspect and the fluff than the game play.




Oh I also have my reigment veterans using Plasma on the models but in game rules would be meltas because the idea of "Gets Hots" is fething stupid as no one would ever use it in a non-game situation so in my fluff they have Plasma weapons that behave like they do in Space Marine because that method has always made sense to me.

While I have my fluffy emperors children list now with slaanesh allies. And I have my pure daemons list based on the 7 layers of slaanesh's palace. The only one I made up fluff for is my sisters of battle.

Daughters of Mnemosyne. Since most sisters are orphans I took the whole Emperor is their only father, and decided the planet they are from is their mother. I took the name from the greek mythology, the Daughters of Mnemosyne is another way of saying the Muses. I then took the 9 Muses and have them represent the original founding members of the order. Who while now long dead, their traits have had a large impact on the organization.

Because of that, i have tried to incorporate each muses theme into the army. Some are easy, such as Euterpe being the name of my exorcist squad. (Euterpe the muse of music) Some are a bit more far stretched as I couldn't think of something. Thalia the muse of comedy for example, I have no idea how to incorporate her theme into the army itself so instead I named my Canoness after her. (If you can think of a better way of incorporating a comedy aspect into a sisters of battle army id love to hear it, as having both the canoness and one of the founding members have the same name can be a little confusing.)

I also created a special character, a retributor instructor. Who allowed me to take rets as elites as well as heavy support. But she was reserved for games between me and close friends. And now with 6th edition out, a 2k list of sisters I don't need her to field my 4x ret squads.