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Eldar are really the most Greek race.
Necrons are the most Egyptian.
Ultramarines are definitely Roman.

remilia_scarlet wrote:Definitely blood angels, because they have the latin names, like dante and corbulo.

Latin = Roman, NOT Greek.

The eldar or ultramarines.

The Eldar have it because of their paths system. They means of avoiding slaanesh are "Pursue excellence, avoid excess" which sounds similar to Aristotle ethical system. Although they do have egpytian and chinese influences for their mythology and aesthetics.

If you want another group of high minded, civilized warriors. Look no further than the ultramarines.

dakkawolf wrote:@Uhlan Yeah i agree, ive noticed the snake iconography used often (and totally agree with the snakes as ive mentioned earleir in this thread), only thing which bugs me is about the Hydra iconography of the alpha legion, which is a Greece reference, yet they hold no Greek similarities (Ancient, Classical, medieval or modern Hellenic army / peoples).

@Ascalam You could say the same about Italians though, if you were from Florence you were florentine, if you were from Venice you were Venetian, and yet they were Italians under one pile *im talking italy as a united country*

You could indeed. Italians didn't consider themselves Italian (as a nationality) until relatively recently. I've lived there (about 10 years back), and there are still regional tensions between areas of Italy then. The Italians i spent time around considered themselves Florentine first, italian second, or Neopolitan first, Italian second , especially amonst the older guys. The younger folk considered themselves Italian, from an particular area.

They considered themselves Italian in much the same way being British doesn't necessarily mean you come from England. These days the region definitions are pretty much the same as the nationality, but that's a fairly recent thing.

What i meant is, is that even though they considered themselves as their province stated, they were Italians even loosely considered. So as to state one being spartan or Conrinthian would still make a statement as one being Greek *sorry went round the houses there*


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@Cuthulisspy Ultra's are just too Roman to fit in with it

@Farseer Petriel I have considered it before that the Eldar fit in with the Greeks, however there are alot of chinese, celtic and Egyptian references which put me off. Though as i stated before, i can totally see the similarities.

dakkawolf wrote:@Uhlan Yeah i agree, ive noticed the snake iconography used often (and totally agree with the snakes as ive mentioned earleir in this thread), only thing which bugs me is about the Hydra iconography of the alpha legion, which is a Greece reference, yet they hold no Greek similarities (Ancient, Classical, medieval or modern Hellenic army / peoples).

Their primarchs were Alpharius and Omegon. Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet.

@Cadbren And yet thats kinda the same reason why Ultramarines dont fit, they have Iconography and names included in their fluff, but have few other identifying traits.
Alpha legion ftw btw, always thought they were cool (alongside night lords).

Its dark eldar you can tell by their leaders, the archons, a name given to a type of ancient greek office
the 2nd closest is eldar due to their mythological stories.

Using your fourht post on Dakka to raise a long dead thread from the grave is not a good idea. This is called threadomancy.

 KamikazeCanuck wrote:
Orks are pretty much the opposite of Greeks in the 40K setting. Greeks are supposed to be the creators of western civilization. Orks are the destroyers of civilization. Orks represent the many Celtic and Germanic barbarians that beset Rome.

roman propagenda sir! the "barbarians" were more civilized then the romans or greeks in many aspects, they were talented craftsman understood trade like no other, even had their own roadsystem, women could run a business. the military was highly trained. they were not the mobs of ruthless and dumb killers as depicted by roman writings.

anyway back on topic, if you want a greek faction i think youd be best of by going with the eldar or spacemarines and just convert them a bit


edit: i got tricksed!

The Minotaurs have very strong Greek influences.
The Iron Hands also clearly have a lot of Greek influences.

And if nothing satisfies you, you could always create your own SM chapter/IG regiment/Craftworld/Whatever

Edit: Oh wow nevermind Threadomancy

atlervetok wrote:

 KamikazeCanuck wrote:
Orks are pretty much the opposite of Greeks in the 40K setting. Greeks are supposed to be the creators of western civilization. Orks are the destroyers of civilization. Orks represent the many Celtic and Germanic barbarians that beset Rome.

roman propagenda sir! the "barbarians" were more civilized then the romans or greeks in many aspects, they were talented craftsman understood trade like no other, even had their own roadsystem, women could run a business. the military was highly trained. they were not the mobs of ruthless and dumb killers as depicted by roman writings.

anyway back on topic, if you want a greek faction i think youd be best of by going with the eldar or spacemarines and just convert them a bit


edit: i got tricksed!

Holy thread necro. Anyway, 40k isn't necessarily based on history but rather popular conceptions of it.

Blood Angels are Greeks.

Ultramarines are Roman, though Space Marines in general borrow elements from both cultures.

I seem to recall the iron snakes reminding me of Greece. Here's the lexicanum link: http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Iron_Snakes#.Uu3XL3i9LTo

Yeah, they're based on greek culture very much.

Even down to their fighting style. The battle scene in Brothers of the Snake was very 300-esk(except they won)

Would the Minotaurs chapter fit in to this motif as Greek esque?


http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Minotaurs

 Alkasyn wrote:
Blood Angels are the Greeks here.

I'm calling bull turds on this.

The Phalanx was a static defensive line, that moved mostly off to the right rather than actually advancing. They never ran (save for marathon) and never needed to.

The blood angels are more like libyans, a fast army that covers distance quickly.

No army truly conforms to being greek in terms of millitary strategy, but DE comes close in terms of life philosophy. (Hedonism mixed in with the fickleness of existence, etc.)

Maybe the Minotaurs?


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 KamikazeCanuck wrote:
Orks are pretty much the opposite of Greeks in the 40K setting. Greeks are supposed to be the creators of western civilization. Orks are the destroyers of civilization. Orks represent the many Celtic and Germanic barbarians that beset Rome.

Actually, very few celtic tribes threatened rome after the punic wars. The last Germanic tribes to truly threaten Rome were just before the Marian Reforms; the next time Rome itself was threatened, it was no longer the heart of the empire.

My understanding of Greek fighting style; Greeks utilized a ritualized pike phalanx type of warfare for the most part. A bunch of dudes stood in a big square and stabbed at the opposing square until one side gave way, then they killed a bunch of the losing dudes as they ran away. Afterwards the losing side submitted to the will of the winning side. Lots of discipline involved, not as much strategy. Got a bit different when they went balls out full on warfare but I believe it was really the same thing + skirmishers and scorched earth policies, my memory is fuzzy there though.

My understanding of Greek culture; highly intellectual and scientific. Debates and aristotle and democracy so on and so forth. Alternatively spartan style discipline and focus on war and martial prowess. Obviously more to it than that but this is fantasy in space not a study in anthropology

So who matches that? I'd say the Eldar are pretty good matchups for the cultural side, but miles from the combat style. Ultramarines honestly seem to fit the combat style - heavily armoured, highly disciplined, and ritualized... and their culture fits the Spartan greek ethos (though it could be said to be the antithesis of Athenian due to the heavy influence of the imperial cult (in the good ones at least, not the herp derp lets use alien artefacts and ally with Tau marines))

The Ork Goff klan is pretty damn spartan too. They ded 'ard and ded serious, focused on war and who is the biggest. God I wish they'd get some klan specific rules to represent this.

FROM OP;

"Soviet / Third Reich style Hyper-Religious view of things"

You realize these guys were like the exact opposite of this, right?

The Ad Mech.

They fight in massive phalanxes of thousands of skitarii and march themselves at the enemy like a well oiled machine.


Don't they even call it a phalanx?

In any case, they sound like a classic greek army to me. (In reality, a Greek army was vastly different to the one we see in the media, but they did like to march masses of men at each other.)

 Zakiriel wrote:
Would the Minotaurs chapter fit in to this motif as Greek esque?

Spoiler:

http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Minotaurs

Yeah Minotaurs = Greeks. One of their Contemptor Dreadnoughts is called Hekatos which is a Greek name that roughly translates to shooter from afar.

Minotaurs. They were designed as the "greek" army. You want greek you go with them.


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Did I just necro this thread?

Not fluffwise but game wise. Vanguard seige assault list: tacticals with seige mantlets, charcaradoons chapter tactics, chainswords modeled as 'spears'. Slow moving phlanx that could actually work in a game due to the reroll on the saves.

IN that case, maybe some converted death wing? give them shields and thunder spears (converted counts as hammers), and have some pskyers providing buffs and you might have something there. Love this idea btw.

About Greeks, it depends on how you think about them . I see that most of people here think of the greeks as the 300 from this f#£×*-¥ movie. It was not only Spartans who were known for their battle skills. Athenians were also masters of naval warfare and they also had a more well organised military system than Sparta's. I think more of the ultramarines but on the other hand, they all look more Roman than Greek to me. But i prefer ultramarines cause of the blue colours. But anyway, its interesting to see how other people see your country.

What about the Minotaurs? They look pretty Greek.

Pre-Heresy Thousand Sons. It gets as Greek (Macedonian, mostly) as you can.

What's Greek about PH TS? They're pretty overtly Egyptian styled.

Better question

Which Warhammer 40K race resembles Grease the most?

 BlaxicanX wrote:
Better question

Which Warhammer 40K race resembles Grease the most?

Well, the Iron Hands do have to keep those joints moving.