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Hey.

I'm thinking about painting an army of Space Marines for WH40k, ninth edition. But which chapter should I choose?
Actual color scheme or lore of the chapter might not be too important here, because I think I can play around with the successor chapter mechanix. And in the end I might even have a go and just paint some pink Ultramarines.

BUT the thing(s) I'm mostly looking for and need help with are the rules of different chapters (from someone who knows about them), and how do they differ from each other. I'm especially interested in unusual organizational mechanix when selecting an army for a game.
So for example simple things like: the Black Templars having squads that can include Neophytes (?) among the regular marines, and Blood Angels Librarian Dreadnought as a HQ choice. And I know that some of the chapters (like Blood Angels and Space Wolves) are kind of close combat oriented, but how are these (or other such) things reflected in their rules?

I don't know that much about the loyalist marines. So if YOU do, advice would be very much appreciated!

Marine armies share a pool of units that they can take. With a few differences, like Space Wolfes or Black Templars not being able to take specific characters.

But the main difference comes from the faction specific units. A Space wolves army is going to have thunderwolf cav and mounted up characters, DA are going to run a biker mounted apothecary no one else can take etc.

Power wise the armies considered the best right now are White Scars, and Dark Angels.
For both attack bikes with multi melta are a popular options. As well as venguard veterans, because of how cheap and efficient they are.

There is also a ton of good marine units, which you can fit in to almost any list. Plasma inceptors, plasma primaris dreadnoughts are all good options . You don't have to take them to make your army work, and you won't unless you play huge 2500+pts games, but you can hardly go wrong with them.

Chaplains specialy the mounted on bikes or jetpack ones are very good HQ options too.

In general the main limit with picking a marine army is cash, and if you plan to use non primaris or recasts. If you plan to go pure primaris, then running stuff like blade guard instead of vanguard veterans is not going to make your army bad.

It might be easier if you could give an indication of the sorts of things you're interested in, so we could advise on which chapters suit that.
As opposed to trying to describe what every single chapter does, which would not only be a lot of effort to write but also a lot of effort for you to read through and understand.

I think they're spot on when you say that colour and lore isn't important.
IMO the chapter tactic you choose as nothing to do with anything else. I don't view them as chapter rules, I view them exclusively as chapter tactics you can use to represent how your army plays.
But it is noteworthy that taking certain characters or many chapter-specific units lock you into certain chapter tactics.

In 9th Edition all loyalist Space Marines (with the exception of Grey Knights) share one codex, and then the various chapters have their own codex supplement which works in conjunction with the SM codex.

If you know you want to start a loyalist SM force, I'd recommend getting the SM codex first, it has some information about all the chapters, how they play and whatnot, then once you've had a look at the rules in there you will be better placed to make your choice.

I would definitely agree with starting with the SM Codex. It gives a general idea of all chapters. Also, as others have said, their rules don’t really make that much difference to playstyle unless you want to lean into the theme.

Going into specifics, there are several chapters which are almost entirely based on Codex: SM, and a few which have more divergent rules with supporting supplements.

The ones based mainly in the Codex (where you don't really need a supplement to get a feel for them) are:

Ultramarines: The generalists, with a Roman motif. Their chapter rules are about being composed and disciplined. They also have the most special characters if that's your thing.

Imperial Fists: Seige specialists. Their rules are around softening up targets while mitigating their cover, then closing in to clean up.

Salamanders: Master artisans with an affinity for fire. Their gear is slightly better than average, and they favour melta and flamer weapons.

White Scars: Something of a Mongolian motif, with a love for bikes and transports. Their rules are largely around maneuverability and getting stuck in quickly.

Raven Guard: Stealthy boys with an emo edge. They like to creep up close before engaging. Their rules focus around making it harder to damage them from range.

Iron Hands: Cybernetically-enhanced warriors who strive to overcome the weakness of the flesh. Their rules make them tougher in general.

Crimson Fists: Successors of the Imperial Fists. They were nearly wiped out and had to replenish their numbers. Their rules are around tenacity and not giving up.

Black Templars: Successors of the Imperial Fists, with a Crusades motif. The most divergent of the chapters in this category, they don't use Psykers and are particularly focused on melee.

Then there are a few Chapters which diverge a bit more, and where you really would want to use a supplement. These are the ones which tend to have several units unique to them, and may also be locked out of several options from Codex: SM.

Blood Angels: Melee-focused, with a curse called the Red Thirst. They're also master artisans, but with more of an emphasis on art than function (though both matter). Something of a Greek motif.

Dark Angels: Stalwart and tenacious, with rules that favour finding your position and digging in. Warrior-monk motif. Their divergence comes mainly in the Deathwing, a specialised company of Terminators, and the Ravenwing, a specialist company of Bikers.

Space Wolves: Possibly the most 'human' of the chapters, these are melee-focused with a heavy Norse / Wolf theme. They have a bit more of a focus on individuality than most chapters, especially with their characters.

Deathwatch: Not strictly a chapter, the Deathwatch are comprised of Marines seconded to them from almost all Chapters. They have a focus on slaying xenos, and have possibly the most flexibility in terms of unit loadout of any faction in the entire game.

There's also one (loyalist) chapter which doesn't use Codex: SM - the Grey Knights. These are specifically an anti-Daemon force where almost every unit is a Psyker. They use different weapons and kits than any other loyalist Marine armies, so while I'm listing them for completeness, I wouldn't suggest thinking of them in the same way as other Marines.

Then there are the Successor Chapters. There are literally dozens of canonical Successors, and you are encouraged to make up your own if you want. So if none of the options above quite work for you, I'd suggest making up your own colour scheme and motif. As a bonus, it gives you a lot more flexibility to play around with different rules.

I find that lore is important in the long run for collecting and playing an army. Power levels rise and fall quite quickly, but lore tends to be more enduring. Having said that, using a non-specific paint scheme gives you flexibility.

As a Dark Angel player, I have access to three Archetype lists with the additional variations of mixing them. Deathwing for Terminators, Ravenwing for Bikes and Greenwing for standard troops. Rules are good right now, giving each swing some crunchy flavour.

Thanks for the comments everyone! Very helpful information, and appropriate this for me to further consider and clarify.

I'm not that much of an power gamer, so the list I'm building doesn't have to be the most deadly out there. Also the relative power levels or points costs for specific edition of the game won't be affecting my choice of chapter here.

Maybe it's the flexibility (or lack of it) of army organization that plays the main role here. I was quite interested in Black Templars earlier (with their possibility to have mixed squads of regular marines and Neophytes), but now reading that they don't use Psykers is a big turn off.

Space Wolf cavalry and Dark Angel death/raven/green wings sound very interesting, and I definitely need to look them up!
In the case of these Thunderwolf cavalries, Ravenwing and White Scar bikers for example (or other such unit types) I'd like to know if they might be Fast Attack choices in army organization charts, or can some/any be taken as Troops choices in specific situations or chapters?

I'm not much into named special characters. But do like a lot about all the support kind of characters (apothecaries, chaplains and such) and weird little unit types. Just don't know if any such things exist within the regular SM chapters.

And cash is not a problem here because I have none and won't be buying any more things. Apart from the new codex(es), of course!
I've got dozens of spare Space Marine miniatures all the way from Rogue Trader era (mostly 90's stuff though) until the new Primaris ones to choose and build this hodgepodge army from. There's some bikers, terminators and jet pack minis in there as well, but not that many I could build the whole army around. Got a few Rhinos, regular Dreadnoughts and a Land Speeder as well stashed somewhere.

Thanks again for the comments, everyone!

 Mutant Modifier wrote:

Space Wolf cavalry and Dark Angel death/raven/green wings sound very interesting, and I definitely need to look them up!
In the case of these Thunderwolf cavalries, Ravenwing and White Scar bikers for example (or other such unit types) I'd like to know if they might be Fast Attack choices in army organization charts, or can some/any be taken as Troops choices in specific situations or chapters?

Bikes are fast attack choices in every chapter and none can take any in troop choices.
That said, Dark Angels are the weirdos of the bunch in this case since they have a bunch of bikes, characters on bikes, flyers and land speeder choices unique to them (some in elite choices, not just fast attack) and have a way to make standard bikes squads and primaris outriders count as "super operational" (which is what you're looking for in troops usually) with specific army building rules (in short it's free for them to use specific detachments, when everyone else have to pay some tax). Same thing with terminators.

Deathwatch are very unique because they can make Kill Teams of mixed marine types.
So you can put regular, jump pack, bike and terminators into a squad. Or different primaris units into different squads based on their armour variants.

Check out this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PunWDyUrBpg

Covers most the bigger chapters pretty quickly with notes on playstyle.

I think the big things to consider are:

(a) Do you want a more shooting or close combat oriented army (or a blend)? Similarly, do you want something more slower-moving and heavy, or faster moving?

(b) What lore are you interested in? Does the backstory of a faction stand out to you?

(c) What specific units seem to interest you?

I wouldn't worry about what is a fast attack vs. elite or whatever. You can use different detachments to basically make anything work unit-wise, so the considerations above the critical ones.

Make your own so you don't get stuck with bad rules because GW had a lapse of judgment, which is incredibly common.

Regarding Dark Angel bikes, if you take an all Ravenwing Outrider detachment the Outrider
And Bike Squadrons gain Obsec. If your Warlord is in the detachment you refund the 3 CP. Deathwing Terminators have a similar mechanic with a Vanguard detachment. If you love bikes, White Scars certainly have some perks. Still, Ravenwing are not the answer they are the question. And the answer is “Yes please!”

Thanks again for the great pieces of information! I really appreciate your input.

Now the Dark Angels bike & terminator detachment mechanix, as well as the Deathwatch Kill Team units -type of system are exactly the kinds of organizational things I'm currently looking for.

Also the Deathwatch might thematically and lore wise be a very good match for my collection of very diverse SM miniatures. All the old little RT beekees wouldn't look that much out of place next to some 90-00's marines and a few primaris thrown in, if they were a rag tag group of Deathwatch.

Yeah. Cool idea and collection. How about a deathwatch detachment to start out, then you might add a second custom chapter using other models e.g. your restartes with some story about how they team up with the watch...

Slayer-Fan123 wrote:
Make your own so you don't get stuck with bad rules because GW had a lapse of judgment, which is incredibly common.

Unless you really do like one particular paint scheme in a named chapter, I would do the above personally. Even if you want to run them as something with their own models like Dark Angles or Space Wolves, you can theoretically switch out some models while keeping a core of your army the same. This month you want to play a regular Space Marine army. Want to play DA or SW next month? Change what you need to change and keep a core. I would say that it would be courteous to inform your regular opponents of the change, and specifically that you do run your Space Marines in all flavors so that they are not too surprised when it happens. Ultimately they are your models so you can do with them as you wish.

I'd honestly pick something like Blood Ravens (unknown founder) chapter because it won't lock you into the rules that might be garbage in next edition (or even next FAQ). You can then simply change supplement and carry on as usual - nothing stops you from playing BR as Ultramarines one edition, then Blood Angels the next. Just pick the colors you like and check what obscure chapter has them.

 Mutant Modifier wrote:
Also the Deathwatch might thematically and lore wise be a very good match for my collection of very diverse SM miniatures. All the old little RT beekees wouldn't look that much out of place next to some 90-00's marines and a few primaris thrown in, if they were a rag tag group of Deathwatch.

I love deathwatch, but I honestly I don't know if would bother. Inept writers seemingly hate them and successive books had more and more stupid in them, with current rules making them worst SM, both in rule and modelling standpoint (yup, the chapter that has supposedly access to everything has the least freedom gear wise). It got so bad in 9th edition I am now running my Kill Teams as sternguard veterans in my SM army because that funnily enough makes them closer to what DW should be, IMO

 Mutant Modifier wrote:
Thanks again for the great pieces of information! I really appreciate your input.

Now the Dark Angels bike & terminator detachment mechanix, as well as the Deathwatch Kill Team units -type of system are exactly the kinds of organizational things I'm currently looking for.

Also the Deathwatch might thematically and lore wise be a very good match for my collection of very diverse SM miniatures. All the old little RT beekees wouldn't look that much out of place next to some 90-00's marines and a few primaris thrown in, if they were a rag tag group of Deathwatch.

I love Deathwatch. Funny you mention the old 90's marines; I've got an old librarian with a single visor slit rather than individual eyes; I'm thinking of adding him to my Deathwatch for exactly the reason you mentioned- he'll fit right in with the other oddballs, where in other armies, he'd stand out like a sore thumb.

I think you'll really enjoy building Kill Teams. There are a lot of options.

Great points and comments everyone!

Coming up with a custom paint scheme and chapter seems like the most interesting idea at the moment. The Deathwatch organization methods sound super interesting. But I'll probably go and get the general SM codex first and then start sorting out all the myriad miniatures in squads and see where it goes from there.

There are also two nice and gritty Space Marine paint schemes I've seen in some old White Dwarfs, and bot kind of stuck with me. One was Dave Andrews Ultramarines, other Jervis Johnsons grey marines of some unnamed chapter. Anyone remember seeing pics of these? I've got the WD magazines back home, but can't find anything more about these online.