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.

After finishing up my deathguard speed-painting project, I want to do a 180 and take as much time as possible with an army. My idea is that it would be fun to, before touching a single model, really read the lore and get all the juicy bits. Then I want to use that lore to make a custom subfaction, with a thematic list, lore and a color scheme. Then spend ages painting each individual model (way longer than I usually do), and then finish it up with a massive diorama containing a whole 2k point army and a bunch of terrain.

However, I am completely blanking on picking a faction to dig into for this project, and I would love y'all's help picking one!

 

Here are my ideas for what I would find fun in the lore:

People:

So far, my two favorite bits of aos lore I've heard are:
1: an Ork cried when its favorite squig died in the end times
2: Some bonereapers are considered disposable and know it, so they buddy up and agree to fix each other if one survives.

I want an army of people with thoughts and feelings who care about each other. For this project, I'd prefer to avoid mindless killing machines that can't love or care. I especially like seeing the emotional side of very evil or non-human characters, but all good is also okay.

 

Customization:

My two favorite mini-painting projects I have seen were the eons of battle inquisitor kill team and the tabletop time space bears army. I really like the idea of kitbashing an armies models, deciding their place in the lore, and letting that influence their painting decisions!

As a part of that, I want to make an army that doesn't have any pre-existing named characters, I want any characters in this project to be entirely made for this project (from what I understand, there are some factions that are hard to play right without named characters)

History:

I like having a history of a faction to draw on; for example, in tabletop time's space bears, I feel like knowing what happened to Lemun Russ, how the primaris got made, etc, really adds to the flavor of the legion, and helps tie it into things.

Again with the space bears, I like having specific characters to build lore off of (but not included in the army); both lemun Russ and Guilliman are involved in their creation, but the space bears have their own chapter master separate from either of them and no primarch is actually in the army.

Also, kitbashing, I'm very inexperianced with kitbashing, , and I want to try it here with some greenstuffing and reposing, so if you know of any models that are better or worse for that I would love to hear!

Bit of tragedy:

I'd like it if there is a bit of tragedy in the history of the faction, it makes them a bit sympathetic even if they are jerks.

Models I can spend a bunch of time on:

I want to spend some TIME on my next armies models, all layering and glazing. Any metals will be nmm (never done that before); I want to try some osl, etc. So if you know of models that are especially good/bad for practicing glazing and layering, or very receptive to haveing models that you take a long time on each, I'd love to know!
I also am going to experiment a bunch with these, so models that look good without looking identical would be good (aka probably not an army where everyone is wearing a matching uniform)

Also, in case it helps, here's a list of things with lore I really like.

berserk-manga
chainsaw man- manga
hero, oh hero- webcomic
the Magnus archives- podcast
Spiderwick- novels
Gideon the ninth- novels

Any suggestions for factions to look at?

Two choices that come to mind are:
Orks
Chaos

If you want to kit bash & convert? You really can't beat Orks. An orky vehicle or piece of gear? It can look like anything you can imagine. And the next identical piece doesn't have to be even close in appearance....
In addition? Although there's a # of famous named characters none of them are really essential to run the army. And while orks have been part of the game since day one, there's no super in-depth lore for them to get in the way of you telling your own Ork story.

Chaos is similar.
Some war bands have literally been fighting for 10k years, INSIDE the Eye of Terror, & have been subjected to any # of Chaos mutation & gifts.
Additionally any # of newer recruits have come over to the cause bringing newer pattern gear. And no doubt repairs & pillaging have led to equipment changes. These guys aren't Ultra-Marines getting regular resupply of standardized equipment....
There's also who knows how many characters not detailed by GW.
AND you've got a really wide range of models to draw on - CSM, deamon engines, deamons, mutants, traitor guard, freshly turned SMs.....

ccs wrote:
Two choices that come to mind are:
Orks
Chaos

If you want to kit bash & convert? You really can't beat Orks. An orky vehicle or piece of gear? It can look like anything you can imagine. And the next identical piece doesn't have to be even close in appearance....
In addition? Although there's a # of famous named characters none of them are really essential to run the army. And while orks have been part of the game since day one, there's no super in-depth lore for them to get in the way of you telling your own Ork story.

Chaos is similar.
Some war bands have literally been fighting for 10k years, INSIDE the Eye of Terror, & have been subjected to any # of Chaos mutation & gifts.
Additionally any # of newer recruits have come over to the cause bringing newer pattern gear. And no doubt repairs & pillaging have led to equipment changes. These guys aren't Ultra-Marines getting regular resupply of standardized equipment....
There's also who knows how many characters not detailed by GW.
AND you've got a really wide range of models to draw on - CSM, deamon engines, deamons, mutants, traitor guard, freshly turned SMs.....

You just reminded me that 6 months ago I started my first kitbash, which was of a killteam of chaos space marine's with goliath head and arms, but never finished or painted it... that might be a good option! Orks would also be a lot of fun!

For me it would be either Eldar. Their vehicles and model can be made in to not just painted models, but works of art. The care/family aspect could be represented by Iyanden craftworld. A bunch of seers and warlocks leading their once alive family members and friends to battle.

Another faction great for an art project are imperial knights. The big models with potential banners, scenic base that can tell stories of their own, can let a person who is good at painting go all Sistine Chapel. As for the lore, the knight house holds are house holds. The pilots can be litteral family members. After that sky is the limit, it can be a battle tech mercs style army, where the Family fights to gain resources from a bigger faction. The Family could be defenders of their own Hold planet. Or maybe they are on a crusade of vengance after other members of the family were killed/betrayed etc.

Sisters of Battle. Great opportunities for weird sf-grimdark-gothic conversions and architecture. Offer less epic scale, more personal drama scale. Read Fire&Faith and the old Odro Hereticus codex to get in the mood.

Imperial Guard. You can't beat them for variety, particularly if you go off the beaten path for models. Here are my 95th Praetorian Rifles (ignore the BA stuff in the corner).

It might be easier if you describe a vignette you wish to render with models, and have others suggest canonically similar examples?

But, most of all? 40K isn’t just a massive setting with sprawling often contradictory lore. It’s an intentional sandbox setting. And so pretty much anything goes, with the main limitations being imposed by yourself.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
As for sympathetic scenes? There’s a snippet of Official Background* from Codex Titanicus, releases over 30 years ago now, which describes an Eldar removing his war mask/helmet, and becoming himself again (the mask/helmet being metaphorical as well as physical) and taking in the aftermath of a victory.

It’s pretty cool. Can provide a photo of that page for inspiration if you wish.

The Eldar because individual Eldar have more opportunity for introspection and less overt indoctrination.

Eldar could be REALLY interesting, I typically think of them as just a quick "paint them all one color and then edge highlight" army, but those suits could be great for practicing highlights and shadows! Main lore thing I know about eldar is that they have ghost robots, which is extremely cool!

Still too intimidated to do knights, but I definitely want to do a knight someday!

Sisters could be fun, I haven't read much about them them but I love the aesthetic, and something down to earth would be super cool! I should check out those books either way!

Those imperial guard look awesome! You know, I love the idea of the imperial guard, and i really like playing the normal people of the faction, but cadians (which are the main current force of imperial guard models) Just don't do it for me personally. My favorite parts of the imperium are the psuedo-medival parts, the grimdark junky hiveworld parts, servitors and weird tech, and especially all the nutso religious imagry, I don't personally go for the modern military aesthetic. Are there any other imperial guard regiments you would recommend looking at?


I honestly have no idea what I want to make a diorama of tbh lol, I was hoping the lore would inspire that. I have never made a diorama before though, so hopefully something that isn't toooooo hard to pull off. But just on instinct... I think it would be fun to have a scene with a lot of elevation, the general is inspiring the troops from a top of a hill, getting ready for battle. I also think it would be nice to have them in their home terrain, and maybe show some civilians in the back of the diorama (maybe in a painted backdrop?). Get the dichotomy of battle and life.

THAT PASSAGE IS SO COOL OMG I LOVE IT!!!! I still haven't read any of the warhammer novels, I started eisenhorn, and liked it, but got distracted. I really need to read more of those.

You could have an immense amount of fun kitbashing Orks, as for lore though there are unfortunately very few books centered around the Ork perspective so it would mostly be perusing through older codexes.

Rfkannen wrote:
Eldar could be REALLY interesting, I typically think of them as just a quick "paint them all one color and then edge highlight" army, but those suits could be great for practicing highlights and shadows! Main lore thing I know about eldar is that they have ghost robots, which is extremely cool!

Still too intimidated to do knights, but I definitely want to do a knight someday!

Sisters could be fun, I haven't read much about them them but I love the aesthetic, and something down to earth would be super cool! I should check out those books either way!

Those imperial guard look awesome! You know, I love the idea of the imperial guard, and i really like playing the normal people of the faction, but cadians (which are the main current force of imperial guard models) Just don't do it for me personally. My favorite parts of the imperium are the psuedo-medival parts, the grimdark junky hiveworld parts, servitors and weird tech, and especially all the nutso religious imagry, I don't personally go for the modern military aesthetic. Are there any other imperial guard regiments you would recommend looking at?


I honestly have no idea what I want to make a diorama of tbh lol, I was hoping the lore would inspire that. I have never made a diorama before though, so hopefully something that isn't toooooo hard to pull off. But just on instinct... I think it would be fun to have a scene with a lot of elevation, the general is inspiring the troops from a top of a hill, getting ready for battle. I also think it would be nice to have them in their home terrain, and maybe show some civilians in the back of the diorama (maybe in a painted backdrop?). Get the dichotomy of battle and life.

THAT PASSAGE IS SO COOL OMG I LOVE IT!!!! I still haven't read any of the warhammer novels, I started eisenhorn, and liked it, but got distracted. I really need to read more of those.

Praetorians, Mordians, Drookians, the list goes on. There are plenty of Regiments with non-“modern” aesthetics.

With Genestealer Cult you could pretty readily create a hardscrabble Imperial Guard force--the PDF or mass-conscripted regiment from an industrial world that has to repurpose its civilian gear for war. That would build a theme of common folk being forced to go to war out of desperate necessity.

Part of the fun of orks is that they're probably the only faction having fun. I'd never argue that they're somehow morally defensible or admirable; but within their own society they definitely put affection and creativity into the things that they make. A big mek probably loves his creations in his orky way. And a converted/kitbashed model can tell an implicit story about where it came from, how it was disabled and looted, etc.

Sisters of Battle/Ministorum have a lot of their themes of martyrdom, punishment and redemption already cooked into their models. Repentia, penitent engines, arco-flagellants, and so on, under the gaze of baroque preachers and Sisters in medieval-ish armor. If you're not looking to build a playable force, you could even lean into Ministorum fluff and artwork, with preachers leading a mob of servitors and rabble, whipped up into a religious frenzy.

If you like a bit of trajedy and kitbashing, Iron Hands are great.

Add all kinds of cybernetics and lean into that old school body horror from 40k art.

A lesser known bit of lore is that Slaanesh would love to get its tentacles into the Iron Hands with their obsessive body modifications. And don't forget Ferrus Manus was besties with Fulgrim.

There's a couple books by David Guymer with modern lore (but still pre-Indomitus, so no Primaris).

I would go with Sisters.

The range of possibilities from Penitent to Saint is just mind blowing.

Just the potential for a Battle Conclave... with its Death Cults, Orders of Crusaders and Arcoflagellants is wicked.

What's the difference in aesthetics between a preacher who rolls with Death Cultists vs. one who rolls with Crusaders?

What percentage of a Penitent Engine's personality is the history of the engine vs. the identity and crime of the Penitent Rider?

If the custom Order venerates a saint, what was her miracle, how was she martyred and by whom? How does this determine what behaviour is regarded as holy and what is regarded as sin?

Is the Order affiliated with the Convent Prioris or the Convent Sanctorum?

How does the Order ally with other branches of the Imperium? Will they join forces that contain no Chaplains or Priests, or is the inclusion of faithful elements a necessity for an allied force?

Does the order possess a warp-faring vessel, or are they planet/ system bound?

I don't think there's any other force that gives so much potential for diversity- provided you aren't collecting for the sake of optimal game performance.