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I've been trying to pick an army to play and paint, but all I've decided upon is that I'd like to make a pre-Heresy Emperor's Children army as my second army. I've narrowed it down to a few armies and chapters, but I'm open to other suggestions. Now, bear in mind I've not played in a decade, but I'm familiar with the rules. I'm also a novice painter (how on Earth would you pain the Black Dragons emblem on EACH marine, nevermind Dragon Warriors!?)

Space Marines:
Sons of Medusa
I love the unique founding and the fluff surrounding them, in addition to the colour scheme. Never been to keen on the Iron Hands though.
Celestial Lions
Nice colours, cool fluff.
Knights of Blood
Not too keen on the colours, but cool fluff.
Lamenters
Nice fluff. Anyone know why they didn't defend Baal?
Space Wolves
Always had a soft spot for them.
Minotaurs
I like the idea of chapter being used similarly to the Space Wolves - the Emperor's Executioner.
Black Dragons
The bone-like protrusions are cool, and not too much lore.
Soul Drinkers
Love the colours and the lore, though I don't know if there are many left. How on Earth would you paint the emblem!?
Relictors
I like the idea of Renegade Space Marines loyal to the Imperium.
Night Watch
Dunno why, but the idea of 11 companies is cool. Also, nice colours. Painful badge.
Celestial Guard
Similar colour scheme to pre-Heresy Emperor's Children and look cool.

As I'm considering Space Marines for my second army, I'm thinking it might be more fun to collect a different bunch first.
Praetorian Guard
Always loved Praetorian Guards; I even remember the original release, but I'm not sure about the availability of the models.

Craftworld Mymeara
Craftworld Alaitoc
Craftworld Iybraesil
Craftworld Nacretinei[/url]
Maybe Eldar Corsairs
Always liked Eldar, and as long as they have a decent colour scheme, I wouldn't mind playing any of them.

Chaos Space Marines
Dragon Warriors
Some lore, I like the colours.
Alpha Legion
I like the idea of using lots of cultists. I have no idea why.
Thousand Sons
Three words: All is dust.
The Scourged
I love the lore and the colour scheme, and Tzeentch rules.
Oracles of Change
As the Scourged, but prefer their colours.

I'm partial to Alpha Legion and the Scourged, but I'd like to hear the pros and cons with the other armies.

Back when I last played, I remember White Dwarf published Chapter-specific rules and there were a bunch of codices dealing with different Craftworlds, Chapters etc. Is there anything similar to them around?

Anyone?

I'm not sure what your asking?

All the space marine chapters you chose look awesome. And the Alpha Legion look great on the board if you like them go with them:-)

And the chapter specific rules. In the space marine codex there are different chapter tactics for around 5 different chapters. And there are also Codex Supplements which have a ton of fluff and like 4 different rules in them for craftworlds etc.

I would of spent more time explaining but Im working atm. I hope someone else can be of more help.

I play Daemons and Dark Eldar and absolutely love them!

Pick whichever army you feel you could most like, fluff and paint. Table play only if youre fairly competitive. I went BA because i love their fluff and models, plus their colors are fairly simple (im a sucky painter). I would highly recommend them to any player out there looking to forge a narrative or the like, but they fail on TT if you run fluff lists without knowing how to play them. I would also like to point out the Lamenters haven't been heard of for decades leading up to the Defense of Baal which is why they aren't mentioned.

Choose an army based on the models, fluff, and paint job. Personally if my conversion skills were up to par I'd love to do Black Dragons but you might prefer Alpha Legion if making Spikey Mutated Guardsmen appeals to you. In the end it's your call we can only voice our own opinions.

If you go Marins I vouch for Black Dragons as I haven't seen a full army of them aside form what GW has taken photos of.

Space Elf Pirates are always fun, plus Prince Yriel is a beast of a model on the table and in the looks department.

And Alpha Legion is so rarely seen I'd love to see someone paint em up.

 Alphabet wrote:
I'm not sure what your asking?

All the space marine chapters you chose look awesome. And the Alpha Legion look great on the board if you like them go with them:-)

And the chapter specific rules. In the space marine codex there are different chapter tactics for around 5 different chapters. And there are also Codex Supplements which have a ton of fluff and like 4 different rules in them for craftworlds etc.

I would of spent more time explaining but Im working atm. I hope someone else can be of more help.

Sorry for being unclear; I was just wondering which of the above would suit a returning player, with regards to painting, play style, and how common they are. I didn't want to pick a Chapter that is virtually wiped out either, as I'm a slave to the lore (though I love Angry Marines).

Thatguyhsagun wrote:
Pick whichever army you feel you could most like, fluff and paint. Table play only if youre fairly competitive. I went BA because i love their fluff and models, plus their colors are fairly simple (im a sucky painter). I would highly recommend them to any player out there looking to forge a narrative or the like, but they fail on TT if you run fluff lists without knowing how to play them. I would also like to point out the Lamenters haven't been heard of for decades leading up to the Defense of Baal which is why they aren't mentioned.

I'm gonna play games with my friends and family; they're wargamers that want a fun, balanced battle; I'd love to play tournaments and participate in things like the 3rd War for Armageddon (that was the last big scale thing to happen before I cancelled my White Dwarf subscription and stopped playing), but from what I've read, people tend to exploit certain units and it doesn't have any real impact on the 40k universe anyway, which makes it a bit pointless.

 Verstaka wrote:
Choose an army based on the models, fluff, and paint job. Personally if my conversion skills were up to par I'd love to do Black Dragons but you might prefer Alpha Legion if making Spikey Mutated Guardsmen appeals to you. In the end it's your call we can only voice our own opinions.

If you go Marins I vouch for Black Dragons as I haven't seen a full army of them aside form what GW has taken photos of.

Space Elf Pirates are always fun, plus Prince Yriel is a beast of a model on the table and in the looks department.

And Alpha Legion is so rarely seen I'd love to see someone paint em up.

My conversion skills are rusty (over a decade of rust), so no Black Dragons then! I did however love the bits WD put out about specific chapters; they had special rules for all the 1st Founding Chapters in the edition I played. From what I gather that doesn't seem to be the case anymore and the chapters have lost a bit of their uniqueness in the name of streamlining and simplicity, though there's the aforementioned codex supplements and rules for 5 chapters. It'd be awesome to have special rules for the Black Dragon bone protrusions, Fire Lords fire spitting, Renegade chapters like the Flame Falcons' immolation etc.

Are there specific rules for Eldar Corsairs then? I saw FW had conversion kits.

I didn't realise Alpha Legion had few players! +1 to Alpha Legion!

 ChazSexington wrote:
Anyone?

Eldar are a fun paint, and one of the strongest armies currently, and can take allies, so you can paint "out of school" and still use the figures

Dude, you mentioned Praetorians!

Well since you arent playing in a GW have you considered making your own regiment?

Well this is where my Praetorians came from
http://victoriaminiatures.highwire.com/

But there are MANY MORE models to make either using pre set up sets or by making your own.
There are plenty of other companies that do it too.

I also suggest using the codex Eldar if you wanna use corsairs. The eldar codex currently (to me) feels more like a hit and run strike force than the Corsairs currently do. But who knows the army may be updated, so id use corsair models for the craft world codex.

But back to the guard there are so many places to get great guard models for cheaper and better detail and so forth. But Praetorians are easier to get then you think if you use the link above!

I ended up settling for Alpha Legion! I figured with my limited painting and conversion skills, I'd be a good place to start, so I've got myself Dark Vengeance. However, I keep getting asked "why did you pick Alpha Legion?" by the GW staff. Anyone know why? Are they unpopular or something?

One of tthe GW staffers suggested I use the Dark Eldar codex for corsairs, any reason why that would suit them better?

With regards to the Praetorians, is it a problem they're 30mm? I thought most GW miniatures were 28mm? How easy are they to convert?

I use them and they look fine. The parts are interchangeable really without anything looking wakky. I dont have any comparison shots but I have converted some with heresy era plasma guns which may give you an idea of size?

 ChazSexington wrote:
I ended up settling for Alpha Legion! I figured with my limited painting and conversion skills, I'd be a good place to start, so I've got myself Dark Vengeance. However, I keep getting asked "why did you pick Alpha Legion?" by the GW staff. Anyone know why? Are they unpopular or something?

They are probably struggling to compute why you've not taken the mindless decision to collect whatever they're pushing right now (Crimson Slaughter probably) don't sweat it, I'd always rather have an "unpopular" sub faction and be different.

One of tthe GW staffers suggested I use the Dark Eldar codex for corsairs, any reason why that would suit them better?

It probably does fit the flavour of a piratical raiding force better (that's essentially DE fluff after all) but you could look at the proper Corsair list from FW if it's fairly well accepted by players in your area.

With regards to the Praetorians, is it a problem they're 30mm? I thought most GW miniatures were 28mm? How easy are they to convert?

GW have been nowhere near 28mm scale for years (put an Infinity model, which is true 28mm scale next to a Space Marine for how far they've drifted) and are essentially 30mm (sometimes called heroic scale, as heads and hands are exaggerated and proportions aren't quite right)

Dude, make your own fluff and colour scheme, even if it is based off another chapter.

Lamenters have propably the coolest fluff!
But their painting might prove a tough task...

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

Other than that I recommend what others have.

Make your own Chapter. Own fluff and painting style.
Then you can play them as any Chapter from C:SM.

 Swastakowey wrote:
I use them and they look fine. The parts are interchangeable really without anything looking wakky. I dont have any comparison shots but I have converted some with heresy era plasma guns which may give you an idea of size?

If you could post a photo that'd be great! I'd love to have Commissar Charles Sexington of the Praetorians!

 azreal13 wrote:

They are probably struggling to compute why you've not taken the mindless decision to collect whatever they're pushing right now (Crimson Slaughter probably) don't sweat it, I'd always rather have an "unpopular" sub faction and be different.

Nah, I went back today (needed two more paints) and asked, and it's apparently because most people favour World Eaters, Black Legion or Nurgle-worshippers basically. Alpha Legion is apparently one of the least popular legions for whatever reason!

 azreal13 wrote:
It probably does fit the flavour of a piratical raiding force better (that's essentially DE fluff after all) but you could look at the proper Corsair list from FW if it's fairly well accepted by players in your area.

Alright, that makes sense. I prefer Eldar to Dark Eldar, but I also prefer going for lesser-played races.

 azreal13 wrote:

GW have been nowhere near 28mm scale for years (put an Infinity model, which is true 28mm scale next to a Space Marine for how far they've drifted) and are essentially 30mm (sometimes called heroic scale, as heads and hands are exaggerated and proportions aren't quite right)

Yeah, I wasn't sure if the same applied to IG though!

 soomemafia wrote:
Lamenters have propably the coolest fluff!
But their painting might prove a tough task...

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

Other than that I recommend what others have.

Make your own Chapter. Own fluff and painting style.
Then you can play them as any Chapter from C:SM.

I really, really like the Lamenters' fluff. Only problem is my painting skills are REALLY not quite that good. If I got back to SM I'm partial to them!

http://theimperialpatrol.blogspot.co.nz/p/praetorian-guard-army-in-nut-sell.html

here is my painted collection of them. The plasma pistols and guns should help the size.

 ChazSexington wrote:
I ended up settling for Alpha Legion! I figured with my limited painting and conversion skills, I'd be a good place to start, so I've got myself Dark Vengeance. However, I keep getting asked "why did you pick Alpha Legion?" by the GW staff. Anyone know why? Are they unpopular or something?

One of tthe GW staffers suggested I use the Dark Eldar codex for corsairs, any reason why that would suit them better?

With regards to the Praetorians, is it a problem they're 30mm? I thought most GW miniatures were 28mm? How easy are they to convert?

GW's minis are not true 28mm, and are more of a 28mm heroic scale while puts them closer to 30mm in scale. If you put a true scale 28mm mini next to a GW IG mini the 28mm mini is tiny in comparison. Had hoped to make a pretorian force myself using 28mm Zulu war british plastics, but the GW weapons for conversions were just way too big for them so I had to can the plan.

As for Alpha Legion, few people play them hence the questions. I think they have a neat back story and they look different from other chaos marine forces so don't see anything wrong with them. They aren't crimson slaughter, though, which are the new kids on the block that all the cool kids are supposed to be playing.

Corsairs look cool as Dark Eldar thanks to the dark eldar vehicles which look like futuristic pirate ships. With allies you can use a combo of Dark Eldar and regular Eldar to get the best of both worlds.

Glad you narrowed it down yourself. Your initial list was pretty lenghty which is why I expect you didn't get too many quick responses.

Skriker

 Swastakowey wrote:
http://theimperialpatrol.blogspot.co.nz/p/praetorian-guard-army-in-nut-sell.html

here is my painted collection of them. The plasma pistols and guns should help the size.

That's fantastic! I really like the Scots too - was it easy enough to convert?

 Skriker wrote:
GW's minis are not true 28mm, and are more of a 28mm heroic scale while puts them closer to 30mm in scale. If you put a true scale 28mm mini next to a GW IG mini the 28mm mini is tiny in comparison. Had hoped to make a pretorian force myself using 28mm Zulu war british plastics, but the GW weapons for conversions were just way too big for them so I had to can the plan.

As for Alpha Legion, few people play them hence the questions. I think they have a neat back story and they look different from other chaos marine forces so don't see anything wrong with them. They aren't crimson slaughter, though, which are the new kids on the block that all the cool kids are supposed to be playing.

Corsairs look cool as Dark Eldar thanks to the dark eldar vehicles which look like futuristic pirate ships. With allies you can use a combo of Dark Eldar and regular Eldar to get the best of both worlds.

Glad you narrowed it down yourself. Your initial list was pretty lenghty which is why I expect you didn't get too many quick responses.

Skriker

I'm not too big a fan of daemons and such, so I'll run a fluff-heavy Alpha Legion army. Their complex style of warfare is completely different to the other legions' style, which adds to their appeal - there's more to the XX than just obliterating the enemy through strength of arms. I've seen a few lists that at least makes them playable without spamming Helldrakes and obliterators, so going for a melta gun-heavy CSM and Cultist army.

Yeah, I was thinking of using either an Eldar/Dark Eldar or the FW corsair list.

Either way, I'll run with Alpha Legion (Just ordered 'Legion') and go for either Praetorians or Corsairs for my second army. I don't know why, but I don't seem to like mainstream armies.

I dislike doing common armies too. No reason other than I like to wow people and keep things interesting along with admiring something unique.

Those Scottish are amazing. No conversion needed on that squad. I just used bits off the site and put them together like any cadian. The plasma was tricky so I got someone else to do that for me. Except the pistols which I did easily.

So in short since gw bits fit perfectly no effort is really needed beyond normal.