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.

I like that it's nice. have to admit my idea "Archangles" is way too overused (the angel part)

One thing is that Space Marines are the 'Angels of Death', so of course there will be lots named after angels...

JohnHwangDD wrote:Look at the most recent Codex with all of the lame X of Y names: Angels of Ecstacy, Apostles of Minithras, Brotherhood of Darkness, Claws of Lorek, Company of Misery, Disciples of Destruction, Knights of Blood, Lord of Decay, Oracles of Change, Sons of Vengeance, Swords of Khargoth, Warriors of Mayhem. Reading these, you don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Not to mention the Angels of Death, Harvesters of Sorrow, Symphonies of Destruction, Tornados of Souls, Persistences of Time, and Souths of Heaven. I think those are all Chaos renegades or something?

Actually I think the most incongruous name is "marines". They don't have anything to do with the sea.

SM Chapter Names are very formulaic. If you break the mold too much, you won't really be fitting in with the fluff. So the key is to slip in words with a fun vowel pattern or slightly off-kilter words into the mix.

Some chapter names I've come up with:

Crimson Scythes
Wardens of Etrolus
Sons of Onan
Scions of Absalom
Rift Wardens
Children of the Hunt
Disciples of the Wounded Saint
The Emperor's Sting
Leviathans

Of the ones on the GW site, I like:

Iron Hands
Emperor's Children
Iron Snakes (even if it is a bit phallic, it's a great icon)
Marines Errant
Salamanders
Ultramarines (it's really clever the first time you hear it, and then it quickly fades into being cliche )

And I never realized the U of Hawaii reference with Rainbow Warriors. I've seen a couple armies painted up as like, Duke U or the Indianapolis Colts (wait, no, those are Ultramarines), so a football army is kind of a happy surprise.

snooggums wrote:The Space Sharks could fight the Space Jets in an expertly coreographed off broadway play.

Indeed, the highlight would be the army commanders squaring off with their power switchblades.

MagickalMemories wrote:

Wehrkind wrote:One thing I always sort of was amused by is how many chapter names are based on obscure or uncommon Terran animals. In other words, animals from a planet that had been one giant city for what, 15 millenia? I have to wonder just how many of those things could possibly be extant by the time the chapters were named.
I mean, ok lions, dragons, those sorts of things are pretty engrained into the human story. But where are the scary, non-terrestrial critters? Catachan Devils.... and what? Where are the Astral Jugonu'Pa or something.

"In the grimdarkfuture, horrifying monsters lurk in the wilderness of the stars. But people still think wolves are scary."

wtf?

You won't find any... Because "Blood Marmosets, ""Death Ferrets," and "Iron Hamsters" don't scare anyone.
LOL


Eric

I beg to differ. I can't remember how many times I've woken up in terror, dreaming of the Iron Hamsters. They look cute and cuddly, but they are made of IRON!!!

Nurglitch wrote:Oh, well then, so long as all the bigots are telling jokes like that it's okay. After all, it's okay to offend people if you don't mean to, right?

If the jokes aren't intended to harm then yes, it is ok to offend people because somoene will be offended by anything that is said. I'm sure someone is offended that you are calling people who joke about gays being bigots, including gays who joke about gays.

Brokeback mountain will be remembered for being about two gay guys, but it will be remembered because it was a good movie (or so I hear, haven't seen it myself). I personally thought the guy who did the Brokeback Marine should have put a cowboy hat on it.

Y'know, though JohnHwangDD criticizes the X of Y Marine names and everyone else decries the limited nouns, I think Arkion has a god point: These guys _rely_ on being formulaic. I mean, they're billions of lightyears away from Terra, but still pull all their tactical doctrines from the same playbook (ye olde Codex Assha... er, Astartes). They're pretty darned orthodox. They like it that way, and they're making an ideological point about sticking to fundamentals. This could also explain the fixation on Terran animals and legendary creatures, despite having encountered every other form of scary amongst the stars.

Of course that's a silly after-the-fact fan explanation, but aesthetically I think it makes sense.

On a side note, it's interesting (and goes with my theory) that IG regiments are more likely to have Xenoform-based names- the Catachan Devils, and... er... I seem to recall reading more of those. Um, somewhere... Maybe I should've opened the window when using all that plasticine cement last night.

Nurglitch wrote:..."Black Daddies on White Twinks Ass-Banging Rodeo IV"...

Isn't that the EC homeworld?

Abadabadoobaddon wrote:Actually I think the most incongruous name is "marines". They don't have anything to do with the sea.

I'm pretty sure the use of the term "marine" in this case stems from the use of the word to refer to soldiers who operate from sea-faring ships. Since in the grim darkness of the 41st millennium, space travel on space "ships" is relatively common, and most space "marines" operate from these space "ships," it makes sense.


Also, for all you fluff people, keep in mind that not all marine chapters pull their doctrine from the Codex Astartes as heavily or completely as others. The Space Wolves is a popular example, but I'm sure there are a lot more than just them.

I read through these various chapter name lists, and all that comes to mind is that old nick show, "Legends of the Hidden Temple"

Let's see, it's my orks, vs. the silver snakes.

Or purple parrots.

Green Monkeys,

Orange Iguanas....

What abot...

"Steel Magnolias"
"Emperors Hand-maidens"
"Army of Inevitable Ablutions"
"Excrement Slammers"
"Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers"

akira5665 wrote:"Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers"

Pure cheddar-ite!

Teek wrote:I read through these various chapter name lists, and all that comes to mind is that old nick show, "Legends of the Hidden Temple"

Let's see, it's my orks, vs. the silver snakes.

Or purple parrots.

Green Monkeys,

Orange Iguanas....

The Blue Barracudas were always my favorite.

@ Pariah Press- A Harry Harrison fan. I just put you up on a pedestal Sir.
EXALT

Red Jaguars!

I always like the name "Griefbringers" - as in, the name of a marine chapter that featured in one of the stories in the old Deathwing book.

Of course, I couldn't bring myself to paint them in the "bileous" lavender and green armor that they're described as wearing.

"Excrement Slammers"

That chapter is da s&*%

off-topic

No one wants to be remembered as the guy who made The Hulk. Well, until we see the next Hulk movie(hopefully).

http://www.spike.com/presents/hulk

Savnock wrote:This could also explain the fixation on Terran animals and legendary creatures, despite having encountered every other form of scary amongst the stars.

Presumably many Imperial worlds were terraformed during the DAoT and therefore any fauna would be descendants of introduced Terran species. Also, xenos species may have been named for their resemblance to Terran animals. A "fenrisian wolf" is not necessarily a relative of Canis lupus. There are numerous examples of this in the real world - the Tasmanian Tiger/Wolf was neither a tiger nor a wolf and the horseshoe crab is not actually a crab (or even a crustacean).

I'd also like to point out that the Lamenters are a good example of a name that rests at the edge of the orthodox SM stuff- it's a Latin-based noun that comes from an action (what's that called? A gerund or something?). And it's sombre. But it's also an odd concept- sad little SMs. I like it best out of all the Badab chapters, many of which were a bit silly.

I wanted to do Executors, but the problem is that too many people wouldn't be smart enough to distinguish them from Executioners...

JohnHwangDD wrote:I wanted to do Executors, but the problem is that too many people wouldn't be smart enough to distinguish them from Executioners...

Well, just call 'em the Literary Executors. That'll keep people from getting confused.

When I was like 14 and got off of how cool I thought Ultramarines were, I designed my own Chapter. I wish I could remember what I called them... Black Lightning or something maybe But they had black armor and I used the metallic copper trim. I thought they looked great!


Until everyone in the store I played at called them the "Duracel Squad".... :S

Fear the power of the Copper Tops!

Their only fear is the pink rabbits of Tzeentch. :p

I've never come up with a good Marine army name. It's like naming characters and planets, it's just hard for me, and I don't understand why.

The best one I came up with was the Storm Ravens... then I found out I didn't come up with it.

The best one before that was the 'Imperial Death Waves'... but that was 15 years ago when I was like 10 years old and I thought it was lame then.

Then there was the Aquamarines - the Space Marine equivalent of Aquaman no doubt...

BYE

H.B.M.C. wrote:I've never come up with a good Marine army name. It's like naming characters and planets, it's just hard for me, and I don't understand why.

The best one I came up with was the Storm Ravens... then I found out I didn't come up with it.

The best one before that was the 'Imperial Death Waves'... but that was 15 years ago when I was like 10 years old and I thought it was lame then.

Then there was the Aquamarines - the Space Marine equivalent of Aquaman no doubt...

BYE

Wow! Those defy belief! Aquamarines, LOL!

Too long have I waited for a thread with the almighty angry marines in it! Check more of them...

http://demonmads.deviantart.com/art/Angry-Marine-Seeks-Help-60822775
http://filthybusiness.deviantart.com/art/Always-Angry-53497889
http://filthybusiness.deviantart.com/art/Only-Angry-53506484
And the Preditor Angrinator!
http://40-kun.deviantart.com/art/Predator-angrinator-61232833

Also worthy of mention are the pretty marines, eternal rivals of the angry marines...
http://jaekyu.deviantart.com/art/Pretty-Marines-III-53086061
http://jaekyu.deviantart.com/art/Pretty-Marines-II-53031539

On a serious note I named my chaos warband the Plague Lords (nurgle, obviously), and their loyalist opposite the Shields of Redmourne. I didn't think they were too bad.

Hordini wrote:Also, for all you fluff people, keep in mind that not all marine chapters pull their doctrine from the Codex Astartes as heavily or completely as others. The Space Wolves is a popular example, but I'm sure there are a lot more than just them.

So are Blood Angels and Dark Angels, and look how different *they* are...

As 5th Edition moves along, it would appear that variances from the Codex Astartes are going to be smaller and smaller.