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.

hi, i'm thinking of making my own space marine chapter, but i don't know how to go about it. im new to warhammer and i probably should stick with an already made chapter, but i'm the kind of person who likes to make things there own, so its 100% to my liking. if anyone has info advice or even examples of there own made up chapters. that would be great. thanks


Automatically Appended Next Post:
ops, sorry i forgot to mension if anyone could please help me with the fluff, im in desperate need, since im new and i don't own many troops although ive research i still have no clue about the fluff so if anyone likes doing that and can help me please do, i really need ur help, thank u

Uh... go get a Warhammer 40,000 Rulebook and a Space Marine Codex, and commit them to memory. In their entirety. Then com back and ask that question.

There is so much fluff, so much story, and so many options for you to chose from for your army. And you have so few guide lines for what you want your chapter.

If you could narrow down what you want your chapter to be like, what flavor or style of space marine you would like. then I think you would have a place to start from, or a destinct goal to aim for at least.

im broke right now i cant, i know i should be asking this then but i wanna get it all together before i start buying, ill try and get an i dea based around girlpainting video

 Noob9405 wrote:
im broke right now i cant, i know i should be asking this then but i wanna get it all together before i start buying, ill try and get an i dea based around girlpainting video

Maybe go to the wiki, or lexicanum.com There is a lot of information there on space marines, their origins, the current chapters and even newer chapters created by players.

yeah ive been reading the warhammer wiki but didnt know if it was right, so if it is ill read it

I'd reccomend looking at the Chapter Creation Tables available at 1d4chan - they've put up everything needed to create a chapter. You can choose to follow it, or simply use it as inspiration:

http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Space_Marine_Chapter_Creation_Tables

However, learning lots about the background is important as it gives you a wealth of information and fluff to apply when creating a chapter. Lexicanum and the 40K Wikia are both excellent sources.

Im new as well to Warhammer 40k (the table-top) but I figured that a majority of the fun lay in the creation of your own Chapter and playing as you would if you immersed yourself in the Warhammer 40k universe.
Personally, I enjoyed creating my own color scheme, banner, traditions and back story. I've written a 50 page manifest about the different aspect of my chapter. Even going so far as to give them a line of lineage back to their gene-father, the Primarchs. To me its all about immersion.

Once you have read up on the rules of the game and the space marines themselves its fairly striaght forward. Design your own colour scheme, Chapter name and symbol, heraldry and a back story. You rename the main characters toi fit you own story. Once more familer with how the models are put together, its just a case of a small bit of conversion work here n there to make them different.

the minimun you want is a hq choice and two troop ooptions.

i.e. a captin, chaplian or librarian

with

Two tactical squads, or one tac squad and one scout squad sqaud.

But you realy should get the books and read up.

should i go with jet pack troops that hit very hard, or snipers that hit hard and dont get touched?

Well Noob (appropriately named, huh? ) I am going to differ from what else you've heard and say this:

Read a novel or two. This can really help you get into the understanding of Space Marines, how they work, etc and as you mentioned that you're broke... it's a cheap way to make sure it's something you're interested in! Read all you can and think about this:
If you were a super human warrior cleansing the galaxy in the Emperor's name, how would you want to do it?
Blasting your enemy out of existence from a tank? Then look into Predators, Razorbacks, and Stormtalons!
Landing next to him and blowing them apart with your bolters and special weapons? Drop Pods are your friend!
Charging in headlong and splitting them apart in close combat? Assault Marines and Terminators will make you happy!
Stand back and cover your enemies in plasma, missiles and las before they even get a good look at you? Devastators and "gunline" it is!
Maybe you want
Maybe you'd rather be diplomatic and talk your enemies into a treaty! Uh... then try Hello Kitty Adventure Island. This isn't the game for you

There's tons of ways to play this game and no way is wrong, so long as you're respectful to your opponents and don't play without regard to your opponents' enjoyment too (AKA - Basic rules of life).

Whichever way you liked I think you're best off sticking to the Codex Astartes (which you'll find tons of information about in the Codex: Space Marine). Every Space Marine chapter has some of everything so if you really like Assaults you can just say you're playing the 8th Company (which typically is the company that has 10 squads of Assault Marines). Unlike a lot of Codexs, if you make your own army you usually aren't going to be restricted in what you bring as a Company carries everything you'll need. Eldar's Iyanden Craftworld has lots of Wraithguard, but no/little Aspect Warriors or Jetbikes. Ork Snakebites have lots of Gretchin and shouldn't have many/any vehicles. Etc etc BUT a Space Marine company is expected to have EVERYTHING available to them. Even an army like the Carcharadons who are usually seen as assault based have access to good tanks and long ranged support and you're free to play those sections unharassed (though obviously if you play an Iyanden army of all Aspect Warriors you are allowed to, it's just not going to be as well accepted by some players, but still kind of plausible).

SO if you're going to stick to the Codex Astartes... how do I build my Chapter?
Easy. Pick colors you like and once you've learned the rules start picking up basic squads. You'll want at least one Tactical Squad so that's a good start!

Good ways to buy stuff:

Try to find the Assault on Blackreach box set from the 5th edition in any local stores. The rule book and Orks won't be of any use to you, but you should be able to sell the orks to local Ork players or eBay them for at least $50, which should pay for most of the box (Don't pay more than $100 for the box). The Bonus of getting this over Dark Vengence is that you get a Dreadnaught and a Chapter Master/Captain.

If you're an enterprising person then buy the Dark Vengence Box Set and keep the Tactical Marines, Terminators, Rule Book, Dice, Templates and sell all the SM Bikes and all the Chaos stuff, this is a VERY CHEAP way to get a basic Tac Squad (granted, they only have plasma weapons), terminators, Librarian, the rulebook and some starting stuff (Dice/templates etc)

Know a lot of people who play orks and/or Chaos? Buy both boxes and sell the excess! You'll have A Chapter master, Librarian, 2 Terminator Squads, a Dreadnaught, 2 Tactical squads (1000+) for ~$200 before you sell everything you won't use (which should net ~$100 back) which'd cost $350 new. AKA you save $250 and get a small start up army quick. The models will look slightly different but with some basic modifications it won't be very noticable.


Side note... this is a VERY, VERY expensive game. ~$400-500 for a normal 1750 Space Marine army (and that is with JUST those models, so if you wanna change out squads that's more money on top) and that is before the Codex, rulebook, paint, modeling supplies, carrying case, etc.

So if you absolutely don't think you'll be able to field that make sure you take your steps into the game very cautiously and make sure every purchase is exactly what you want not only for fluff (story) but also competitive choices, as it's nice to have both. But if you really enjoy the game don't let this stop you, just remember that it's a hobby, so don't spend all your lunch money on plastic soldiers

Mhm sounds good

I've always found making Chapters to be very fun. First go for a color scheme, then a defining feature. From then on homeworld, initiation, founding, and so on. My chapter's defining feature is a no mercy policy and an easily wounded honor. Their color scheme is brass with black shoulders and fabric. People have called them "silly" or "stupid" but hey, they're Angry Marines!
Here's my chapters background.

The Brass Angels are a Dark Angels successor chapter created in the second founding. Brass Angels are among the hardest Space Marines in existence, mentally and physically. Second only to the Grey Knights, each Brass Angel is a living weapon. Brass Angels go through rigid psychotherepy regularly and upon induction to make sure they remain pure. With their minds hardened so against the predations of Chaos, heresy is almost unheard of in the Brass Angel ranks. Only a few documented cases of heresy have occured, and were swiftly eliminated.

Brass Angels are also one of the toughest chapters physically, for they are raised from birth on the harsh world of Kancor. Kancor is a snow and ash planet, frozen on the surface, yet dotted with dormant volcanoes. Sometimes the volcanoes will wake, causing large ice melts and ash clouds. The villages that survive on Kancor must keep on the move, in search of prey and new camping spots. Also, it is from the hardened villagers that the Brass Angels induct.

Every year, or when there is a shortage of Marines, the Brass Angels have the villagers gather their finest braves, and submit them to the Space Marines. Any who are not accepted are gunned down, seen as an insult to the Brass Angels honor. Those that survive the initial scouring will then have to face the three challenges. The first challenge is to survive alone for a month on the snowy ash wastes of the planet. The second task is for the recruits to find their way through the maddening Ghost Caves of Anthrax, in pitch black. The third and final task the aspiring Brass Angels will have to make is to journey to the top of Mt. Argo, and kill a pre-placed warp dragon.
If the recruits can survive these challenges, they will have the gene-seed implanted and be deemed as Neophytes. The Neophytes will then be given the rank of scout, and advance in front of ground forces, into the most dangerous of situations. If they can survive this, the Chaplain will decide when they are ready to receive the full rank of Brass Angels Space Marine. Some, however, prefer to stay on as Scouts, and are outfitted with the proper gear to serve as snipers or forward sentries. If a Space Marine shows particular honor or ability on the battlefield, he may even be asked to join the Terminators. Though this is rare, any Marine with skill enough to don an archaic suit of Terminator honor will be one of the chapters finest warriors.

Brass Angels have a strict code of honor, called the Tiberian Code, in honor of their first Chapter Master, Tiberius Hexus. The code revolves around principles designed to make the Chapter's warriors very closed minded and violent, as they must be in these dark times. For the Brass Angels do not question heresy, they eliminate it. The slightest sign of heresy, a whisper of doubt, and any Brass Angel has the authority to kill a Battle Brother or civilian on sight for this. Usually this sparks great infighting, wherein a challenge is issued. In the great hall of the Chapter, there is a challenge arena just for this purpose. In the challenge arena, two Battle Brothers will strip to a loincloth and grapple until one has conceded or been slain. However, the losing Brother will usually be killed by the Chaplains anyways, for showing signs of weakness.

It is in these tribal practices and petty killings that the Inquisition is concerned, for while they are willing to throw away psykers to feed the Emperor, or Guardsmen to fight the wars, a Space Marine is something else. If the Brass Angels do not stop contesting their petty honor soon, a full scale Inquisitorial investigation may be launched. Besides this, the Brass Angels have never really gotten along with the Inquisition or Imperium officials and have almost started Heresy because of it.

The fires of Heresy were almost sparked when the Brass Angels allied with Grey Knights to fight off a full scale Daemonic incursion in the Regulus Sector. After weeks of battling across planets fighting off Khorne's Daemonic forces, the enemy was purged and driven back into the warp portal from whence they spawned. The damage to some of the planets was too great, however, and the root of warp taint too deep. So rather than take chances, the Grey Knights ordered Exterminatus on four of the planets. After the battle was over, the Grey Knights asked for the Brass Angels to submit to mindwipe. When the Angels did not go willingly, a small war escalated within the system.

Being a paranoid and arrogant person, the current Chapter Master, Wenton Marx, thought the Grey Knights would alter the Brass Angels memories, or kill them once they were sedated. So Wenton ordered his Chapter to defend themselves, and defend they did. For almost a month they defended large fortress on the planet Raxus, slaughtering many Grey Knights. Wenton was executed for Heresy, and the current Chapter Master, Gladius Vex, succeeded him. The Grey Knights did, however, suffer heavy losses and gave the Chapter an ultimatum, to Crusade forever in the Emperor's name to atone for their heresy, or die. The Brass Angels, never letting go of their honor, chose to Crusade. Even today, they march across the stars in Holy retribution, hoping to regain their honor and take their place alongside the Emperor, justified by sacrificing their lives.

nice! i might do chaos for space marines. i want mine more terminator based

Terminator based? Maybe go with Dark Angels Deathwing or Grey Knights. Chaos Termies have done me good too though.

i mean like using alot of them

I think (without special HQs) only GK's get Termies as troops. Meaning you can have a lot of them.

hmmmm, maybe ill go gk based then

If you want to field a lot of terminators, your best choices are Dark Angels, Grey Knights, or Space Wolves. Dark Angels and Space Wolves can all take terminators as troops with the use of a special character (although its easy to do 'counts as' for the special character if you want to), and Grey Knights don't need a special character (although you do need to take Draigo if you want to use the better Terminator variant, Paladins).

ok thanks ill prob go gk i dunno tho

I relly didn't read all the posts but for making your own chapter
what I did is I looked at other peoples work a saw colors I liked
then I built on that then I thought of a story (Though at the time I already knew some of the basic fluff) but my tip be creative
See what other people have done.

ok thanks ill do that

The best things you can come up with are a paint job (something not already in use, relatively simple, and good-looking that you won't get tired of painting immediately; this can take some practice and experimentation to get right, I was going to do Blood Red on white for a side project once and the contrast came out looking way too excessive, tweaking these things is inevitable and important), a brief description of what you want your Chapter to be good at (you'll usually pick a couple of units that you like to emphasize, then make a brief note of how you play them; 'mobile armored force focusing on Predators and Bikes' is a description, as is 'assault-oriented force focusing on Vanguard Veterans and Drop Pod soldiers'; keep in mind that this isn't a set-in-stone constraint requiring you to use only these units, but it's a good place to get a list-building idea started), and at least a brief concept of the fluff/personality of one or two HQ characters; these three things will give you a framework to start buying/painting miniatures and building lists from.

Start small; your HQ unit, a couple of Troops choices, and an additional unit or two will probably get you to 750-1000pts and take a while to paint; it's easy to go overboard, don't get more stuff until you've painted what you have.

Above all: play games. We're a clever and experienced online community, but there is no substitute for going out and playing as many games as you possibly can to get a feel for how the game plays and how your army works.

There's so many ideas I'm think, but I think I'm gonna go with gk and the hq the let's termis be troop choices and paladins, because I love termis, and should I get a dreadnought or dreadknight ?

 Noob9405 wrote:
There's so many ideas I'm think, but I think I'm gonna go with gk and the hq the let's termis be troop choices and paladins, because I love termis, and should I get a dreadnought or dreadknight ?

Dreads are taking a bum rap right now. They're still very good, and in most battles will actually do more damage than they could in 5th. IF you choose to go the Dreadnought route, I'd recommend at least getting two of them and using the ever popular rifleman configuration. If you don't, then I'd think about 2 dreadknights with the great sword and at least one of the big guns. IMO the dreadknights right now are better multipurpose where as the dreadnoughts are better fire support for the points. Either are good choices, but they just do different things.

BTW: Nothing screams "newb" more than a DIY chapter that violates accepted canon (and there is a surprisingly large amount of these lately). So vet your chapter here or somewhere like this, so you don't have an end result that will annoy more than impress your fellow gamers.

 Lobukia wrote:

 Noob9405 wrote:
There's so many ideas I'm think, but I think I'm gonna go with gk and the hq the let's termis be troop choices and paladins, because I love termis, and should I get a dreadnought or dreadknight ?

Dreads are taking a bum rap right now. They're still very good, and in most battles will actually do more damage than they could in 5th. IF you choose to go the Dreadnought route, I'd recommend at least getting two of them and using the ever popular rifleman configuration. If you don't, then I'd think about 2 dreadknights with the great sword and at least one of the big guns. IMO the dreadknights right now are better multipurpose where as the dreadnoughts are better fire support for the points. Either are good choices, but they just do different things.

BTW: Nothing screams "newb" more than a DIY chapter that violates accepted canon (and there is a surprisingly large amount of these lately). So vet your chapter here or somewhere like this, so you don't have an end result that will annoy more than impress your fellow gamers.

This.

Using GK's and their specialist toys for a bog-standard DIY Chapter flies in the face of 40k's background. Alot of their wargear is only ment for them, for example, no other Chapter (not even the Exorcists who are rumored to be the dudes a step below GK's), get things like Nemesis Force weapons or Dreadknights. No other Chapter, (even the likes of the Exorcists & Blood Ravens), are an entire Chapter of psykers.
Grey Knights are the basically the ulitment 'special snowflake' Chapter.

That's not to say you can't use GK's, but rather that if you want things like Dreadknights & Paladins, then just use them as actual Grey Knight allies.

For a Termie-centric DIY Chapter, look at using either the Dark Angels or Space Wolves books, since both can easily 'unlock' Terminators as Troops choices, thus allowing you lots and lots of them...
Dark Angels would give you more of a 'Codex Chapter' look. Basically, the Dark Angels follow the Codex Astartes, but have a few divergances such as their 1st company only ever fighting in TA and having 'mixed' squads instead of the 'normal' break-down into Tactical & Assault termie squads. Meanwhile, the 2nd company is an all bike/land speeder mounted company. The rest of the Chapter's companies follow the standard Codex organisation, and then you have the various circles within the DA's leadership.
Space Wolves would give you a very divergant organisation to play with. You don't even have to keep them as 'wolf themed' per say, but even go for something like a knightly order theme or some such. Due to their very different organisation, you can really go to town individualising your characters and elite units.

Goingthis route, you can get your Termie-centric army, but also keep clear of looking like you simply want 'the best' toys and flying in the face of the established background.

Keep in mind also that there is still some room in the fluff for writing your own fluff around a GK list; I came up with a long-winded justification for all the differences between the old Daemonhunters book and the new Grey Knights book (long story short: the High Lords tried to install a Supreme Grand Master to get themselves more centralized control over the Grey Knights, some of the Grand Masters took exception to this, and a couple of Inquisitors decided to take advantage of the schism; when the dust cleared a good portion of the Grey Knights had aligned themselves with renegade factions of the Inquisition operating without the support of the Adeptus Terra, though it's in both sides interests to keep this secret (defections en masse within the Inquisition makes the High Lords look weak, and if the Inquisition is seen to be operating without the approval of the High Lords they lose a lot of support)); they tend to be less flexible to write for than normal Space Marines since they've got much more tight-knit and unified traditions, but it's far from impossible.

As far as all-Terminator armies in general go, you have four choices, each with its advantages and disadvantages:

Grey Knight Paladins: Tough, versatile, and horribly, horribly expensive (points, not cash, it's technically possible to get a 750pt fully legal Paladin army out of one Terminator box if you proxy Draigo). Your main strengths are the sheer power and versatility of your regular troops, your main weaknesses are small model count, limited selection of long-ranged and fast units, and your reliance on one horribly expensive Special Character that has to be in every list. I'd advise using multiple small Paladin units and taking an allied list with the advantage of mobility and teleport homers (Ravenwing, for instance) in order to mitigate your short range and slow movement.

Regular Grey Knights: This list uses plain ordinary Grey Knight Terminators instead of Paladins; it has the advantage of being cheaper and more versatile since you aren't tied to Draigo. Most of what applies to Paladin lists applies here as well.

Space Wolves Wolf Guard: Has similar problems to Paladins by virtue of being tied to a 275pt Special Character, but you don't have as many range/mobility problems due to access to Swiftclaws/Long Fangs for support and Cyclone launchers on the Wolf Guard themselves. Strengths are relative cheapness compared to the other Terminator lists and a broader selection of options and support wargear, weaknesses are the fact that you need Grimnar and that your units are individually weaker.

Deathwing: Slightly less troublesome than Paladins or Wolf Guard because you're tied to a 130pt Special Character instead of a 275pt one (Logan Grimnar and Kaldor Draigo are the same cost? I never noticed this before. Maybe we should get them in a fight and see what happens); the main strengths of this list are easy access to mobile support/teleport homers (Ravenwing in the Fast Attack section) and Deathwing Assault (which makes teleporting more reliable), which permits you to set up a much more cohesive and viable battle plan than other lists (footsloggers/transport lists give the enemy more time and space in which to react, while other teleport lists rely on dice rolls both for Reserves and scatter, which leads to piecemeal attacks that don't do much damage).

Any Terminator list, though, requires you to keep in mind one thing: Quantity always has a slight edge over quality, in 40k, meaning that if you decide you're going to walk your nigh-invincible units up and smack the enemy in the face where his entire army can see you you're likely going to discover why Terminators are only nigh-invincible instead of actually invincible (just thank your lucky stars the old Daemonhunters book and its Inv-save-ignoring psycannons aren't still around). You need a cunning plan to chop up the enemy a piece at a time with your ridiculously concentrated force; pit as much of your army as you can against a smaller portion of theirs, wipe it from the field, and move along.

The other major weakness you'll come across in Terminator lists is a lack of anti-flyer weaponry; this can't be helped. Find a Contemptor if you get that far, pray that GW gives Cyclone launchers a skyfire option, but at the end of the day you aren't going to have a very powerful anti-aircraft contingent whatever you do and you will probably end up relying on ducking and praying when the baleflamers ignite.

Ok so paladins are evpensive but the strongest, space wolves I didn't really understand, and dark angels are faster, but they all have flier weakness

I feel like this is trollage .... I sympathise with a noob however. I may be misunderstanding something here. If you look in the sm codex, or space wolves codex, or grey knights or blood angels etc. Codices, you will find everything you have been asking, and a ton more. And if you're not into playing yet, get an old codex... they are $5 and less at: gw stores, comic shops, ebay, noblenight, and gw has released some old 4e codices in pdf... I have the blood angels and sisters of battle straight from gw on my kindle fire. Free. So your a's can come straight from the horses mouth instead of its arse
no offends dakka fans :p

I have nothing I can get it from

Please do not advocate piracy on Dakka. --Janthkin