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 can't decide how to paint up my primaris marines from the dark imperium box, so I am seeking advice and opinions. I am totally new to 40k and modelling/wargaming.

I've read books 2 and 3 of Adam Dembski-Bowden's Night Lords series and now my eyes no longer have any irises, I would never fight for, only against, the false emperor, I say 'ave dominus nox' instead of goodbye, and I frequently scream 'death is nothing compared to vindication!'

Since I am totally new to this, I see painting up the primaris as a learning experience and a bit of practice before tackling the Death Guard miniatures, which I think look amazing and I want to do justice. Then I plan to build up a proper Night Lords army.

That said, the primaris aren't throw aways, I just haven't been exposed to enough imperial fluff to align myself. They'll be one of the only two armies I have, and I want them to be decent at the very least.

My wife is the artsy Craftsy one of the 2 of us, but she has no interest in gaming. I have got her interested in painting models with me, and she likes the looks of the iron hands, angels revenant, carcharodons, emperor's shadows, and blood Ravens, but nothing is set in stone.

So please, try to convince me why I should join your favourite loyalist chapter.

TL;DR Which loyalist chapter should I paint up my first ever army and why?

I think it is a bad idea to ask total strangers on the interwebz how to paint your minis. First of all ask yourself which paint scheme do you like to paint? You gave the answer to this question right away in your post: It is dark blue with lightning strikes. Paint up a small force of Night Lords and come back then to the Loyalists.
After considering your paint scheme there comes another question: Do you like the fluff of the chapter? It doesn´t help much liking the colour regal blue on your models but disliking the flawless Ultramarines for being the perfect role model of a Space Marine. If you don´t like the fluff of any published chapter, just create your own along with their paint scheme and heraldry.
Hope that helps.

Closest thing to the Night Lords the Imperium has are the Raven Guard. Buncha sneaky gits with jump packs who wear black (though white arms are a thing for certain ranks) and skulk about before killing people.

They also like Lightning Claws a lot. Oh, and as part of their training they have to sneak up and kill a certain kind of bird that is native to their chapter world bare handed. They keep the skulls on a chain on their belt and when they die their comrades carry the skulls back to the chapter world for them.

Other than that, I don't know of any outstanding suggestions based on our post.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
As for my favorite chapter, thinking crusading knights in space and you have the Black Templars. Tabards and a desire to punch people in the face with chainswords and flipping the bird to the codex while using all the vanilla toys (except Psykers).

Just paint them Night Lords! The larger models will serve as a great way to practice your lightning schemes and I personally think those helmets will accept a painted skull very well.

Death to the false emperor! Ave dominus nox!

 Strg Alt wrote:
I think it is a bad idea to ask total strangers on the interwebz how to paint your minis.

It's not that bad an idea. All I want are some leads so I can make at least a partially informed decision. I won't get through all the lore, fluff, rules, etc. before I am ready to paint them. I'm not going to tally up the results and paint what the internet tells me to. I am going to make a focused investigation into what has been suggested. It's a starting point in a vast ocean of data.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
@ClockworkZion thanks for the suggestions, I'll have a look at both the Raven Guard and the Black Templars. Cheers

It's important to note that the models in the dark imperium set apparently come with ultramarine heraldry modeled onto the plastic itself. This could be a really problem if you plan on using them for another chapter. That being said, if you are a chaos fan, you should definitely consider converting the primaris marines into more chaos marines. This could be tricky without a good bitz box, but that's what I would do if I was in your shoes.

Also, if you are looking for painting tutorials, I highly recommend the Tale of Painters blog (google it). They have done many step by step guides to painting marines.

I would come up with my own Chapter. I am an RPG player and story teller at heart, but the hobbying aspect of wargaming just resonated with me in such a way that I have been hooked for 7 years. There is nothing wrong with coming up with your own Chapter, heck, get your wife involved with it! I created my own Chapter, and I'll be giving it a Successor Chapter with the Primaris Marines in the future (mostly because I am tired of painting the same color on the models for 5 years now).

 Asmodas wrote:
It's important to note that the models in the dark imperium set apparently come with ultramarine heraldry modeled onto the plastic itself. This could be a really problem if you plan on using them for another chapter.

I actually think they don't have any Chapter Iconography on them. At least, looking at the sprue pictures on the GW website, I didn't see any Chapter specific iconography.

The defining characteristics of each specific faction are almost gone. Paint them whatever you want, and have them be a chapter of your own making, just with the appropriate keyword.