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Thinking of starting my first Space Marine Army. I've got an ok list I'll probably put up on here sometime. It'll be lead by Cato Sicarius and therefore be Ultramarines chapter tactics.

I've come up with three options for my chapter and its colours.

1. Ultramarines 2nd company. Plain, simple, little work involved. Is this boring? Also I have dark blue (kantor blue) Tau and I might want something different.

2. The Lions of Macragge. Ultramarines successor lead by an ex member of Cato Sicarius's Command Squad. Inverted Ultramarines 2nd Company colours (Gold with Blue trim). Could keep the Ultramarines iconography, was hoping to find some astral claws lion shoulder pads on FW but they're all of the claw holding the star :/ Could be good, not sure about colour scheme though.

3. The Valiant's. An ultramarines successor. Dark Green Armour with a dark red trim and orange lights. Was hoping to find Raptors shoulder pads to use but FW only has Terminator ones :( May have to do some work on the Sicarius model cause I probably wouldn't use the Omega symbol. But otherwise I quite like the colour scheme, not as fluffy as #2 though.

What do you think of each option in regards to background and appearance?

What are your thoughts on each from a hobby/fun perspective?

Which would you most like to see across the table from you?

Thanks, I look forward to hearing you opinions

Keep in mind you don't need to play UM or UM successors to play with UM tactics and characters. You could play Dark Angels with UM chapter tactics and characters if you wanted.

It's very much personal preference so really can't advise you on which of those 3 to choose - which do you like the look and fluff of is basically the sole determinant imo. I'm really not a fan of UMs for example so wouldn't choose them, but that shouldn't stop you if you like them.

I picked Blood Ravens because the video games got me into 40k, and I really like their fluff, though their colours I don't really care about.

Lions of Macragge sounds cool, though I'm not sure about the colour inversion.

Have you looked at Celestial Lions? They have the colour scheme inverted like you're talking about. Technically they are an Imperial Fist successor chapter but I doubt anyone would try and stop you using Ultramarines Chapter Tactics with them.

 Banzaimash wrote:
Lions of Macragge sounds cool, though I'm not sure about the colour inversion.

Thats the issue I had with it.

 PastelAvenger wrote:
Have you looked at Celestial Lions? They have the colour scheme inverted like you're talking about. Technically they are an Imperial Fist successor chapter but I doubt anyone would try and stop you using Ultramarines Chapter Tactics with them.

Thats a good catch, I doubt I'd use them as that chapter, I'd probably go with mine but its cool to see the scheme on some models.

Any suggestions on how I could make the Lions of Macragge colour scheme work better?

I know that this will not be much of a help but, any of the 3 options are valid. I would recommend a 4th option as well. You Could just paint/model your figures the way you want them. Then get all 4 Space Marine Codexes, so you could run your chapter as you feel like from battle to battle.

I would honestly run with Imperial Fists or a successor, just so you can re-roll ones when shooting with bolters.

Thanks guys, I was kinda hoping for some more fluffy, aesthetics or fun based opinions if you have any?

And I was quite hoping to make something work with Cato Sicarius cause i quite like him and want to see what i can do with his special rules hence why I was gonna go ultramarines

I'm not really sure what you're after to be honest, do you want us to write your fluff?

 Logan8tor wrote:
I would honestly run with Imperial Fists or a successor, just so you can re-roll ones when shooting with bolters.

The Chapter Tactics are quite literally arbitrary rules that GW came up with 25 years into the game.

They didn't exist before September 2013, and there's no reason to limit yourself to them, because it's fairly silly. I mean, nothing about the Raptors or Mantis Warriors suggest they fight like their gene sires, and yet the "rules" say you'd have to.

Write the fluff whatever way you want. Then apply the rules whatever way you want. And anyone who has a problem with it, kick them in the jimmy. I modeled my Marines to be Counts-As for every single Space Marine codex out there, lol.

Though obviously if he wants to use the Sicarius character in game he'll have to have at least a det with the UM CTs. My only question about having a guy from Sicarius's honor guard, is has Sicarius been around that long? I know he was originally the 5th Company Captain before he became the 2nd Company Captain. But on the flip side, the 26th Founding was the most recent batch of Chapters, and that was apparently 250 years before M41.999, and before the start of the Battle of Macragge.

But don't let that stop you either way. I wrote an Ultramarines successor, and they're not very Ultramariney aside from loving Guilliman and pretending to follow the Codex when it suits them. They're kinda big space jerks.

 PastelAvenger wrote:
I'm not really sure what you're after to be honest, do you want us to write your fluff?

nope, just wondering what your thoughts are on each option?

What do you think of the colours and names of the custom ones?

which would you find the coolest when its deployed across the table from you?

Is choosing Ultramarines 2nd company bad or lame in anyway because they've been the poster boys of 40k and people tend to think negatively of them?

Thanks

I think the valiants is a cool name. I'd be wary of doing inverted ultras colors- all gold power armor has the potential to be mega frightening. Are you enamored of sicarius for his fluff or do you just like the rules? If its the latter I'd encourage you to make up your own captain and just use Cato's rules.

 Colpicklejar wrote:
I think the valiants is a cool name. I'd be wary of doing inverted ultras colors- all gold power armor has the potential to be mega frightening. Are you enamored of sicarius for his fluff or do you just like the rules? If its the latter I'd encourage you to make up your own captain and just use Cato's rules.

Thanks. Do you mean gold had the potential to be frightening as a painter or opponent? Cause I'm thinking it may be both lol.

I like Sicarius' rules and fluff, and the model is cool also. But you do make a good point. I was planning on trying to go WYSIWYG but I guess there's no reason I couldn't do count as.

I like the name Luons of Mccagge but I always see lions as being part of the Dark Angel fluff. I would probably go with gold helmets and blue armour instead of all gold. I'm pretty rubbish on maes though.

Seems like Lions of Macragge is the name of Sicarius's command squad.

As far as it being a Dark Angels thing, maybe. The Celestial Lions, however, and the Desert Lions are neither DA geneseed.

Plus, gold with blue are the Celestial Lions colors.

Ultramarine seems to be all the rage. C'mon man...everybody's doing it... You want to be cool don't you?

Just do which ever's one fluff and looks make you the most excited. If you don't you may end up moving to another army quickly.

Taffy17 wrote:

 Colpicklejar wrote:
I think the valiants is a cool name. I'd be wary of doing inverted ultras colors- all gold power armor has the potential to be mega frightening. Are you enamored of sicarius for his fluff or do you just like the rules? If its the latter I'd encourage you to make up your own captain and just use Cato's rules.

Thanks. Do you mean gold had the potential to be frightening as a painter or opponent? Cause I'm thinking it may be both lol.

I like Sicarius' rules and fluff, and the model is cool also. But you do make a good point. I was planning on trying to go WYSIWYG but I guess there's no reason I couldn't do count as.

I meant mostly as a painter. I originally considered a similar scheme, but when I looked at examples online most of the armies I saw seemed very ugly, to put it bluntly. Even the ones where the individual models were well painted were a bit of an eyesore when the entire force was assembled. The chapters that DO have a lot of gold in them, like the Celestial Lions, have other vibrant colors to offset it. I fear Ultramarines blue wouldn't cut it. But what do I know?

As far as WYSIWYG is concerned, I think that goes kind of out the window when it concerns special characters and their relics. Yes, he has a plasma pistol and your foes might want to see that, but could you really tell, by looking at it, that his power sword can have Instant Death? Or that his cape grants him Feel no Pain?

 Veteran Sergeant wrote:
Seems like Lions of Macragge is the name of Sicarius's command squad.

As far as it being a Dark Angels thing, maybe. The Celestial Lions, however, and the Desert Lions are neither DA geneseed.

Plus, gold with blue are the Celestial Lions colors.

Just my personal opinion that I feel that anything to do with Lions fits Dark Angels better, I understand that they don't monopolise the use of the word

I like the Celestial Lions for chapter names out of the tree options the most.

I have my own chapter but use UM tactics. Also if you have you own chapter you can pick which tactics you wont each game. So you don't have to stick to one. Play each one a few times and see which you like best.