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I'm just wondering what other people's army superstitions/rituals are (beyond the norm), plus colors and names. Space Marine, tyranid, Chaos, whatever.

Mine:

Lunar Guard, Space Marines

Dark blue and silver, Chapter Badge shoulder plate denoting company.

Like the Salamanders, each marine is responsible for making and maintaining their own weapons and gear, thus each are trained in part by the Adeptus Mechanicus, in the form of their techmarines. Before going into battle, each Sergeant and Captain must recite a specific poem/oath.

"We are the Lunar Guard, descending into battle.
We will not return until we are victorious or defeated.
If we are defeated, we shall rise as the moon does each night.
If we are victorious, we shall purge corruption.
We are Space Marines!"

That's all I have so far. But yeah, what about you?

It's a dull but pragmatic chapter I guess. You need to fluff it out better, and invent when they were founded, and other things than fancy slogans. Take your time and write something long with many battles, and maybe for once just for fun, have Chapter Masters making mistakes as I'm damn tired of reading about yet another perfect run of the mill Space Marine chapter.

From their name I'm guessing they are based on a moon of some planet. They sound like they favor the same approach to fighting as their parent-chapter and so on.

 Beaviz81 wrote:
It's a dull but pragmatic chapter I guess. You need to fluff it out better, and invent when they were founded, and other things than fancy slogans. Take your time and write something long with many battles, and maybe for once just for fun, have Chapter Masters making mistakes as I'm damn tired of reading about yet another perfect run of the mill Space Marine chapter.

From their name I'm guessing they are based on a moon of some planet. They sound like they favor the same approach to fighting as their parent-chapter and so on.

Like I said, that's all I have so far. I'm going to be working on fluffing it out quite a bit once I find the creativeness. Of course, they may be Ultrasmurf successors, but they aren't perfect.

I had my own Space Marine-chapter, but I entered the trap of having them being a little bit of everything, so I shelved it.

I guess your chapter has potential. There just is so little to work with. And to be honest if they are known for making mistakes like f.ex. at one point trying to evacuate a population over thin ice, and something going awry, then I would love to read it. Frak-ups is interesting with the Space Marines, successes ain't

Of course then them triumphing over the more perfect chapters makes them look all the more awesome. They being known as failures yet outshining the brightest chapters in the times of need should be a truly great CMOA.

 Beaviz81 wrote:
And to be honest if they are known for making mistakes like f.ex. at one point trying to evacuate a population over thin ice, and something going awry, then I would love to read it. Frak-ups is interesting with the Space Marines, successes ain't

Of course then them triumphing over the more perfect chapters makes them look all the more awesome. They being known as failures yet outshining the brightest chapters in the times of need should be a truly great CMOA.

I like the idea of besting the best chapters, but I don't want my chapter being too failure filled, because they would get disbanded by the Inquisition otherwise. But they aren't gonna be the next Ultramarines.

Yeah too failurish would be not good, but failing often and then under then the Inquisitorial spotlight succeeding and outshining primary chapters like the Ultras is in mind with my thinking and a very Norwegian comic called Stomperud. That was my crown-thought. Of course it's a suggestion, but for me it would make an original and rather funny read.

 Beaviz81 wrote:
Yeah too failurish would be not good, but failing often and then under then the Inquisitorial spotlight succeeding and outshining primary chapters like the Ultras is in mind with my thinking and a very Norwegian comic called Stomperud. That was my crown-thought. Of course it's a suggestion, but for me it would make an original and rather funny read.

You're a genius.

 Beaviz81 wrote:
Yeah too failurish would be not good, but failing often and then under then the Inquisitorial spotlight succeeding and outshining primary chapters like the Ultras is in mind with my thinking and a very Norwegian comic called Stomperud. That was my crown-thought. Of course it's a suggestion, but for me it would make an original and rather funny read.

So....fail something, get the Inquisitions attention, then epicly win to get all the praise?

That's brilliant. Why haven't I thought of that.

 washout77 wrote:

 Beaviz81 wrote:
Yeah too failurish would be not good, but failing often and then under then the Inquisitorial spotlight succeeding and outshining primary chapters like the Ultras is in mind with my thinking and a very Norwegian comic called Stomperud. That was my crown-thought. Of course it's a suggestion, but for me it would make an original and rather funny read.

So....fail something, get the Inquisitions attention, then epicly win to get all the praise?

That's brilliant. Why haven't I thought of that.

I know, right?! We should have our Chapters epically succeed together. XD

Dark Legion/The Awoken (CSM warband)

Led by: Lord Zhavastra the witch-flayer.

They use the original thousand son paint scheme and have not left it in the 10,000 years since the Heresy.

Short Description: Lord Zhavastra and all his marines under him were once Rubric-Marines. Nothing more than semi-sentient suits of armour. On some strange quirk of fate (or divination of tzeentch) they managed to rebel against the sorcerer's who they have served for 10,000 years. Many are prone to symptons that are akin to the black rage, believing they are still on prospero.

Currently they are located in the Dread Clouds trying to escape the Sorcerer-Lord of the Dark Legion, Haurvatat Arash & his Daemon prince As'Gre'Xrx'Thrax, who wish to subdue the rubric's who have gained full control of themselves.

Warcry: We have awoken, and all is dust!

I'm in the process of building them and I'd like any help on them I can get.

I like fluff so I would love to share a bit about my Chaos Marine Warband i suppose.

Name: The Heralds of Rot
Former Chapter Name: The Thunder Stalkers - Founded 327.M35

Homeworld: Festernos - plague planet inside of the Eye of Terror - Daemon World

Current Leader: Nykolsor the Apostle of Entropy

Armor: Spotty green/black armor like that of moldering rot trimmed with brass

Origin Summary:

The Thunder Stalkers were one of the chapter sent into the Eye of Terror during the Abyssal Crusade after being found wanting in the eyes of the Ecclesiarchy. During this penitent crusade the chapter came upon the Daemon world of Festernos and made hasty planet-fall seeking to purge any doubt the Ecclesiarchy had of their purity. That hasty decent to the planets surface was to be the chapters undoing as untold horrors of deamonic origins destroyed the chapter bit by bit. Until one of the chapters Chaplains named Nykolsor had a vision of the gifts that could be bestowed upon the foundering chapter in exchange of fealty to the god of decay or the oblivion that they would be consigned to otherwise. He succeeded in convincing his beleaguered brethren to spit upon the oaths they had taken to the Imperium and be blessed by the gifts of the great Grandfather Nurgle.
Upon accepting the patronage of the lord of plagues the fallen brothers were restored to what would best be described as unlife and the living were set upon by virulent poxes turning them into walking death spreading sickness wherever they stride.

Current Whereabouts:

The Heralds of Rot have been sighted most recently in the service of Typhus spreading the virulent zombie creating virus known as the Destroyers Plague on the Eastern Fringe. Most interesting is the fact that The Heralds of Rot like to collect the zombified dead in large numbers and place them inside of captured troop landers then use them as a shock weapon as a prelude to planetary invasion.

Of course I have more but this is just a small taste so enjoy .

I love it! Oh how far we have fallen (:

The Heralds of Nightmare

Originally the Heralds of Nightmare were elite warriors scattered throughout the many grand companies of the Iron Warriors Legion. After the Iron Cage conflict, this band of warriors set off on their own, apart from Perturabo on his way to the Eye of Terror. Lead by the Warsmith turned Daemon prince Mallus Rex, this band of like minded warriors set off to find the answer to one of the largest conspiracies in Imperial history. They hunt for the truth, for what truly happened to their brothers in the second and eleventh legions. 10,000 years of scouring, and cutting deals and sacking entire worlds has not lessened their quest for the truth, nor their hunger for revenge against an Imperium that turned its back upon its creators.

Like their Iron Warrior for bearers, the Heralds of Nightmare are masters of siege craft, and extensively field tanks and daemon engines in battle. The warband is composed of five demi-legions, which consist mostly of cultists, mutants, and traitor guardsmen. However, leading the Lost and Damned are the Herald Legionare, traitor marines of all sorts, some hailing from other legions, some recruited from modern day chapters. Ranking above these traitor marines are the True Heralds of Nightmare, those veteran warriors who fought at the gates of Terra, and marched alongside their Primarch. Each demi-legion totals around ten thousand lost and damned, a thousand or so legionare, and one or two hundred Herald-marines

Set up in the westward edge of the Jericho reach, Halfway between Ultramar and the Ghoul Stars upon a captured forge world, The Heralds continue to fight the long war, searching tirelessly for their lost brothers, bringing war to any planet that has even the smallest chance of in some way holding valuable information. (their quest is sort of like National Treasure, one clue leads to another clue)

Army name: Gorkfang's Waaagh!
Clan Affiliation: Snakebites mostly
Compostion: Few Bosses, Few tanks, and slugga boyz, lot's of slugga boyz.

Origin: Not much fluff wise, except Gorkfang is modeled after Ghazkull Thraka and after defeating a Tau Ethereal, one of his doks surgically took some pieces from the Ethereal's brain and put it in his. and he blasts Bad Company from the speakers in his battle wagons. He is badass with comic relief. not giving a

Ultimate Goal: The Greater Good, to destroy it that is. Aside from destroying the Tau, the Imperium is next on the list.

Kinlad Liberation Army:

Rebel faction that is at war with the Imperium. The war embroils an entire sector and, 50 years since the first shots were fired, and there is no end in sight. While the Army isn't explicitly chaos corrupted, they are in the most part uncorrupted, there have been several incidents where Slaaneshi deamons have been summoned on Kinlad held worlds. Mass orgies are not uncommon sights in the rebel's domain and these activities are usually put down with brutal force. In fact, some Inquisitors believe that their leader, Premier Karshoff, is a daemon prince himself and has used his golden tongue to corrupt the former loyal officers into rebellion.

The KLA has faced many foes but their most common enemies are the Tau and Eldar. The Tau seek to claim the sector in the name of the greater good and the Eldar... well, they are known to be mysterious for a reason. The Grey Knights have been encountered on some worlds and Astartes have been called in to help end the rebellion.

The Kinlads are armed with a wide array of Imperial weapons. Two captured Forge worlds churn out weapons and supplies for their movement. However, their supply of Titans and Baneblades dwindle to combat losses. While the Forge Worlds are working to make new Titans they have no STCs to make new Baneblades. Captured Imperial units have replaced some combat losses but ultimately the Macharius will phase out the Baneblade as the KLA's primary Superheavy vehicle. Some regiments, such as the 756th "Iron Pride" regiment, will still receive new Baneblades to maintain their elite status.

The KLA is a motley assortment of various uniform schemes owing to their roots as Imperial Guard regiments from at least 5 different planets. Valhallan, Cadian, Mordian and even Catachan uniforms can be spotted amongst the Kinlads. The Cadian style uniform is most common since the high command staff is comprised of former Cadian officers and they dictate what uniforms are used.

The KLA uses two different type of soldiers: Shock Troopers and Liberators. Shock Troopers are well trained, versatile and heavily armed soldiers that use quality over quantity to win the day. They are given Chimeras to ride into battle. With their steady aim they fire the best weapons the KLA can give them. Plasma Guns and Melta Guns are the most common weapons issued to shock troopers but flamers aren't unheard of. Lascannons are at times given to them depending on what battlefield role they will fill. Liberators, on the other hand, are simply recruits that are used for one purpose: To die in the name of liberty. While they have similar equipment to Shock Troopers (Flak armor and lasguns) they are not issued nearly as many special weapons. However, they are always given heavy weapons in order to increase their killing power and many squads are given Plasma or Melta gunners.

The KLA makes use of a xeno race (Or mutant, it isn't clear) called the Cold Bloods. Vicious, intelligent and cunning, the Cold Bloods are patriotic and determined fighters. They are no more strong than an average guardsman but they make up for this in how blood thirsty they are. They have been known to slaughter the populations of newly "Liberated" cities if unchecked by a Commissar of the People. They are a reptillian assortment of 3 known subtypes: The Strong Ones, which are muscular giants that either use their brawn or massive weapons to win the day. The Green Ones, which are closest to normal humans. Finally, the thin ones are weak but they make up for this in their excellent eye sight and cunning brutality. They are often used as snipers but many commanders are loathe to use them in this role due to their blood thirsty nature: A Thin One sniper would shoot any target that enters their cross hairs if bored.

Wakers of Dagon (DE)

Pre-Fall end-times Eldar religious cult that sees the universe as being in a downward spiral and seeks to awaken a Great Old One (Dagon). Very sea-themed, with added tentacles (Coven heavy army)

They view disintegration as a holy act that tips the balance of the universe further towards entropy.

Not entirely sane. Quite possibly being trolled by Tzeentch.

 Ascalam wrote:
Wakers of Dagon (DE)

Pre-Fall end-times Eldar religious cult that sees the universe as being in a downward spiral and seeks to awaken a Great Old One (Dagon). Very sea-themed, with added tentacles (Coven heavy army)

They view disintegration as a holy act that tips the balance of the universe further towards entropy.

Not entirely sane. Quite possibly being trolled by Tzeentch.

If the universe was being tipped towards entropy wouldn't they be getting trolled by Nurgle?

Like the overall idea though.

That too.

Tzeentch is the schemy plotty one with a magic obsession, which fits them better than everyone's favourite unhygenic grandpa.

Could be a collaboration betweent he two though. Or they could be right about Dagon being out there Big universe.

Nurgle has the tentacular funky poisonous beasties after all..

I DO have a small Nurgle Daemons army i could ally, now that you mention it...

 washout77 wrote:

 Beaviz81 wrote:
Yeah too failurish would be not good, but failing often and then under then the Inquisitorial spotlight succeeding and outshining primary chapters like the Ultras is in mind with my thinking and a very Norwegian comic called Stomperud. That was my crown-thought. Of course it's a suggestion, but for me it would make an original and rather funny read.

So....fail something, get the Inquisitions attention, then epicly win to get all the praise?

That's brilliant. Why haven't I thought of that.

Because you don't read the comic named Stomperud?

Craftworld Umbra'dar & Krus'tal
The twin craftworld

A huge black ship with a white underbelly (not pictured) wandering the stars like a massive shark.

Craftworld Rune: Umbra'dar & Krust'al, a rune made to show the two ships joined as one craftworld.

Favoured units:
Umbra'dar: Aspect warriors mounted in grav-tanks.
Krus'tal: Guardians and artillery.

WIP Lore: Around the time Eldar Fall the colony ship Krus'tal escorted by the warship Umbra'dar were on the fringes of eldar space. When slaaanash's psychic wave hit, Umbra dar was hit first, it's wraithbone shell acting as a shield which kept she who thirsts from consuming the souls of the eldar onboard and the colony ship infont of them, the two were tossed and collided the raw psycic power fusing them together. Many long years of drifting later, the bonsingers of krust'al managed to repair the now massive ship's many engines, and the new craftworld began to ply the stars.

Last Known Whereabouts:
Somewhere in Segmentum Pacificus involved in a bitter war with the local ork empire and hive fleet scorpius* well searching for shards of khaine.
*(That would be my brother's nid's.)


Ultimate Goal:
The seers of Umbra'dar believe that if they can find all the shards of khaine, that they can merge them back together so that he may smite slaanesh once and for all.
The seers of Krus'tal believe that this galaxy is forsaken and wish to leave it behind.
Craftworld politics are a exasperating sight to behold.

Armor:
______________Umbra'dar__________________________Krus'tal_____

Well here is my alpha legion army I decided to go for a more humorous route(though it is still in work)

Alpha legion's 3rd battalion, 8th company (I know they are all alpharius, but I have to refer to them somehow, btw this IS post heresy)

company lord: Patrick Alpharius Strauss. He is a stern but fair commander and composes music in his off time, he considers his opus 3,992 to be his favorite.

captain lords:
Bathus the red: serious to a fault, he is over the elite elements of the 8th company and deals with the logistics of the company
Kirk O.: a gung ho get-in-your-face kind of guy, he would rather be on the ground rather than the vehicles that he is over

Lt. Lords:
Yoshimitsu: has the largest superiority complex known to man, often grates on his peers and higher ups nerves. Even with his faults he has an excellent battle history
(I am working on the other

liaison officers

Broseph the Khornate brosurfer: the 8th company's khorne Liaison officer, he rides his board of flame across the battlefield axe in one hand and a smile on his face. He also like to go by his other title: Brosideon god of the brocean.
Joe Gray the apathetic slaneeshian: How slaneesh ever gave him this position is unknown, he just doesn't care about anything.

(that's it for now, but I will have more when I get it done

I dont actually have any figures or play the tabletop game, but I did invent an IG regiment(s) for a rollplaying game we ran. Perhaps something I'll use if we play Only War in the future.

-Kressian Stormgrenadiers-

Uniforms a mix of DKoK and Steel Legion and they are a mixed regiment of elites handpicked for their role. Their role being to deploy where ever a stalemate has occured and break it. They mass at a single point and just smash through enemy lines and just keep on going.
Regiments consists basicly of baneblades and other offensive tanks, riding behind are stormtroopers to mop up before racing after the tanks again. They open up every assault with chemical warfare and what ever ideas the commander might have to confuse and misslead the enemy. So they dont use massed artillery. They paint everything black and for morale they carry huge banners and flags into battle, often playing their songs and melodies with loud-speakers mounted on selected vehicles.

I had written down a version of the Panzer Lied that they would sing before attacking but cant find it atm :(.
Being tough bastards they are almost all augmented by the tech-priests they have good relations to, that mend their tanks. Priests of the ministorum are not as common, as the tech-priests feel they are distracting the soldiers from taking care of the tanks.

The commissars of the regiments systematicly pick the disobedient to charge first in explosive-packed chimeras to kamikaze-run enemy lines. The idea being that they time the explosive and drive, then jump out. If they surivive they are forgiven for their crimes. Nobody has survived, yet.

What a waste of tanks Boreal. The basic idea is good, but you should go more for the actual Hessians when it comes to discipline and, which was extremely harsh (Empire Total War with Darthmod installed and Wikipedia will give you an inkling). Go for having them on mine-throttler duty for a small thingy as just whistling. Tanks is pricy, human life is very cheap, the only thing hindering the IOM commanders in strapping humans as armour to the tanks and airplanes in the way Operation Human Shield worked in South Park is that humans have very poor armour value against armour piercing ammo.

Boreal wrote:
I dont actually have any figures or play the tabletop game, but I did invent an IG regiment(s) for a rollplaying game we ran. Perhaps something I'll use if we play Only War in the future.

-Kressian Stormgrenadiers-

Uniforms a mix of DKoK and Steel Legion and they are a mixed regiment of elites handpicked for their role. Their role being to deploy where ever a stalemate has occured and break it. They mass at a single point and just smash through enemy lines and just keep on going.
Regiments consists basicly of baneblades and other offensive tanks, riding behind are stormtroopers to mop up before racing after the tanks again. They open up every assault with chemical warfare and what ever ideas the commander might have to confuse and misslead the enemy. So they dont use massed artillery. They paint everything black and for morale they carry huge banners and flags into battle, often playing their songs and melodies with loud-speakers mounted on selected vehicles.

I had written down a version of the Panzer Lied that they would sing before attacking but cant find it atm :(.
Being tough bastards they are almost all augmented by the tech-priests they have good relations to, that mend their tanks. Priests of the ministorum are not as common, as the tech-priests feel they are distracting the soldiers from taking care of the tanks.

The commissars of the regiments systematicly pick the disobedient to charge first in explosive-packed chimeras to kamikaze-run enemy lines. The idea being that they time the explosive and drive, then jump out. If they surivive they are forgiven for their crimes. Nobody has survived, yet.

Sounds awesome. i do have one question though and this is not meant to be like making fun of it or anything but... the tech priests are ok with them blowing up their chimeras

Astral Claws... Lufgt Huron had the right idea.

Kressian...Hessian, Hah, lol. Didn't make the connection until now.

About the kamikaze-chimeras. Perhaps it would be more fitting with night-time horse-charge suicide-kamikaze runs. Tech-priests perhaps vat-growing/cloning horses (horse'ish like beings) as beasts of burden for the regiments. Growing them with redonkulus speeds. I remember the germans used alot of horses even during the ww2, only wasting fuel on the tanks and such.

Too many resources involved Boreal. Keep it simple.

Oops, dubblepost

Boreal wrote:
Kressian...Hessian, Hah, lol. Didn't make the connection until now.

About the kamikaze-chimeras. Perhaps it would be more fitting with night-time horse-charge suicide-kamikaze runs. Tech-priests perhaps vat-growing/cloning horses (horse'ish like beings) as beasts of burden for the regiments. Growing them with redonkulus speeds. I remember the germans used alot of horses even during the ww2, only wasting fuel on the tanks and such.

That makes much more sense and also makes the none survived thing cooler. though cloning is a long process with huge resources involved (unless of course your chaos then everything is just a sacrifice away, but you arent so). An idea could be like what the imperials did in storm of iron, they went out to take out demon engines. it was all on foot and conducted at night. no extra resources and the daring raids conducted could take out anti armor positions otherwise unreachable through cavalry/mechanized units. as tau i would position a broadside in semi hidden area with fire warrior or kroot defenders. horses and chimeras couldnt reach but a small team of saboteurs could.

The Sin-Eaters

Once the Nemeses Errant, a Second Founding Dark Angels Chapter, the Adeptus Astartes who would become the Sin-Eaters were tasked with policing their sector for the worst excesses of arrogance and hubris, hunting down Chaos cultists and rogue planetary governors with equal enthusiasm. Their fate changed when their Chief Librarian, Horkos, calculated their odds in the fight against Chaos. If only one one-hundredth of one percent of the population was a psyker, and only one one-hundredth of them lost the war to Chaos and became corrupted, the risk of losing entire worlds to Chaos became certain. Mathematically, the war was untenable as it was being waged.

He proposed a venture to his Chapter Master: venture into the Warp and perform a massive ritual that would interfere with the Chaos Gods' ability to interfere with the mortal plane. Like stirring up silt at the bottom of a pond, the ritual would obscure the workings of realspace from the minions of Chaos and slow their plans immensely. It would buy the Imperium time to evolve. If either saw the ironic hubris of the plan, neither mentioned it, for the Chapter Master agreed. The two of them took a full Company of volunteers into the Warp. They were not heard from again for two hundred years. The main Chapter was thoroughly excoriated by the Imperium, and those Chapters who were not executed for corruption or who went renegade (with stores of gene-seed) were assigned to other Chapters and put in the front lines of the most dangerous conflicts in the galaxy.

Two centuries later, an Astartes vessel came blasting from the Eye of Terror, blaring ancient codes of passage and declaring themselves as the Sin-Eaters, a heretofore unknown Chapter. The Cadians assumed them to be Chaos marines and a short but violent firefight ensued. The Sin-Eaters limped away from the Cadian Gate and were added to the ever-growing logs of traitor Chapters. Thanks to bureaucratic oversight, no one has yet associated the Sin-Eaters with the vanished Nemeses Errant. The Sin-Eaters have taken up refuge in an ancient space hulk, and have begun to recreate their infrastructure. Though they claim to yet serve the Imperium, only the most naive would believe that after looking at them for a moment. They are the servants of the Dark Powers, now and forever, and while some among them may delude themselves that they are working for the greater good, the Company as a whole fervently worships all the Chaos Gods without remorse.