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Hello there folks! I have a very specific army wish in 40k and I hope a few veterans can help me out here. I will give you an image that is stuck in my mind and I hope it can be translated into any 40k army. Here we go:

I am a huge fan of the 'hunter' or 'woodsman' image: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BGnLIhgBiNw/TxdC5FK_qVI/AAAAAAAAArE/7JTOueN3bW0/s1600/Huntmaster+of+the+Fells.png
In general, I am a massive fan of beasts and the connection between man and the wild, so I am looking for something where I can field man a beast together (not necessarily the beast unit-type, but something that could be modeled as such).
When you look at WarmaHordes, Circle Orboros has the appropriate style (yes, I do play them already. This is about 40k )

The concept is that I would like it to stalk a prey and setting things up before finishing it up with one massive swoop.

As for play style, I like synergy. I do not care if my units are weak individually. As long as smart game play makes them stronger, I am all good. I am also planning to play competitively at some point. I think that the player makes the games, not the army. Still, something capable wouldn't be bad.

On a final note, conversions are no problem. I have worked with enough miniatures to make anything work.. it does have to make a bit of sense though.

So, is there an army that would allow me to bring down the wrath of nature down on my foes? Help me come up with an idea.

Thanks for any input

Well honestly everything you've listed only really points to one army as far as I can imagine. Space Wolves run around with their beasties all the time, have plenty of configurations available and can be played using a number of different tactics, so it's not just a one trick pony.

The way you've narrowed down what you want, I actually can't think of a single other army that will work the same.

Unless you go Orks. They have squigs and grotz as pets.

Hope that helps.

Exodite Eldar are another popular choice. Jetbike units modelled with dinosaurs, I think Elvish Cold Ones are used, and tanks turned into triceratops from the Lizardmen range.

Slannesh also has a nice range of Daemonettes and assorted creature types of you want to do Chaos. It's not as good of an option though.

Run a AI:13 list Renegades and Heretics and make all of your mutants beastmen.

The first army that jumped to mind was Tau with lots of Kroot but then Phyrekzhogos mentioned Space Wolves. Wolves probably work better.

Well, the woodsman look can certainly be found in Space Wolves. Lots of rough-and-tumble looking dudes with Furs, and they tend to come with Axes instead of swords and such. They also have a decidedly Viking look, but you could probably remove some of the runic stuff to make it more generically survivor-man. Lots of beards.

They have many wolves in their employ. Like... fetish level use of wolves. They ride them, [tee-hee] they run with them, they wear them, they put them on their armour. They're everywhere. You might be able to use other animals as stand-ins, so long as you didn't paint them SW Grey, you'd probably be alright. You could make them reasonable marines, and paint them in woodland colours.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/36/93/9f/36939f75d23a09dd1eacac25ccdc5851.jpg

"Blood claws". "Grey Hunters" "Thunderwolf Cavalry"

Space wolves have outflanking stealthy scouts, bearded heroes charging into battle surrounded by wolves, a special HQ character who was raised by wolves, a special psyker with a familiar Raven, night vision, veterans who grow fangs and grey hair. They have drop pods to strike with surgical precision, cavalry to hit harder than most anything in melee.

Now, if you're like "too many wolves is there anything else"

There are also Dark Eldar beast masters, or Kroot. But I think SW is by far the best thing for this want.


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Although sometimes they can get just a tiny bit....well...

http://www.dakkadakka.com/s/i/at/2013/2/28/8363f74b1960d680e43c9e907e260580_70119.jpg__thumb

But only if you do it on purpose and out all the fuzzy bits in the box on one dude.

I'd also throw out khorne daemons...an outlier, but I could see the huntsman vibe a bit (probably just cause of the axes).

I guess SW fit well. Not sure how to handle the big armour of theirs.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I went through them all as well as looked through Gw website and here is what I can say about each faction:

Space Wolves
They could really fit. I would give the character their wolf mounts, the Thunderwolf cav could be werewolves (much like Circle Warpwolves) and Rune Priest are those druid type dudes.
One thing I do not like is all the power armour and 'super human' theme, but I guess nothing is stopping me from using fantasy models and say that they are dudes and justify T4 S4 with world specific mutations or animal spirit shenanigans.
Blimey, this sounds a lot like those Norn guys from Guild Wars 2.

Tau
They have a strong hunter aspect to them with all those stealth suits, ranged warfare and relying on movement as opposed to high stats (Riptide notwithstanding). They are xenos, but it would be easy to turn them into a human faction.
The issue is that beyond regular Kroot (and that forge world business) there is little that supports the image above. I could go out on a limb and make conversions, make Crisis into hunting suits and Pathfinders into Trappers. Sounds a bit far fetched but rather appealing as well.

Eldar (and DE to an extend)
Now we are moving into mystic territory. Farseers are the druids, wraith units are forest geists summoned by them. Pretty solid theme all around.
My biggest problem is that they are Elves. Frankly, I do not really like Elves. Again, I could turn them into humans, but I would still tell people that I play Eldar, which leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
If not for the cool forest Wraith concept, they would be right out.

Daemons
Now this is full on mysticism. Heralds of Tzeentch are druids summoning otherworldy spirit. Use those tree thingies from Woodelves as Horrors. You have Wolves in the shape of Khorne Dogs lead by hunt masters, the Heralds of Khorne.
Greater Daemons are incarnations of the spirit animals, summoned by the druid.
I would say I dislike the lack of human involvement, but this one is less grounded in reality and more like an otherworldly image of the Wild Hunt.
What I really dislike is the randomness of daemon armies. I imagine that it could be frustrating at times.

Anyway, that is where I am standing right now. I suppose SW have the upper hand. Are they fun to play? I imagine Marine armies mostly rely on stats as opposed to unit synergies.
However, I also like the mystic theme. Tau are appealing because of the game play and making Crisis into trapper suits would be a new level of awesome, but so much mech might make me feel detached from nature.

Thoughts on the big four above?

Thanks


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I have a decent description of the army play style now. It plays as one might expect a hunter to behave: setting traps and ambushes, maneuvering opponents to vulnerable positions, and controlling where the battle will happen. If you can get your opponent to spring one of your traps, you will likely win. It has a lot of synergy, only few powerhouses and decent range.

So the trouble is that this natural aesthetic doesn't really exist in as pure a form as you want in 40k, but it sounds like you're just gonna make them custom so who cares really.

From a playstyle standpoint you're obviously going to want to avoid vehicles, and DE and non-gunline Tau are vehicle dependent as they are limited in alternate-deployment methods and have flimsy basic infantry.

Space wolves, however, have none of those concerns. Their basic infantry (grey hunters) can arrive via drop pod, their scouts (which you will probably want to use as they rely on stealth and terrain) are infiltrate and outflank. They don't need tanks as support as they have walkers (just call a melee dreadnought a Treant or something) and wolf cav and Long Fang fire support.

I think they're what you're looking for. A heavy scout SW list with Rune Priest HQs (all their psy powers are weather manipulation related), maybe an axe/shield dread counts as heavy forest spirit dealie, long fang heavy support, Thunderwolf fast attack and podding grey hunter troops.

Vostroyans?



They look rugged and hairy enough.


Failing that, the Space Pups with their beasties seem fair game.

Plenty of love for SW here.

I agree, I think I have a good idea how to make them, too.
I am not a big fan of super humans, so my GH and LF will be regular dudes with exoskeletons. I will find a way to explain S4 T4.
My TDA will be Trollkin (or something similar, akin to the Trollblood in WarmaHordes). Stony skin and some tech and armour to justify 2+/5++.
Dreadnoughts will be Rock Golems. Earth Elementals raised as psychic constructs.
Thunderwolf-mounted characters will just be characters with a mount.
Thunderwolf Cav will be big bipedal wolves (using Skinwolves models from FW, akin to Warpwolves from Orboros).
Some tech needs to be there, so tanks are inevitable. However, they must be fast and deadly. Enter the Sicaran Battle Tank, my favourite tank in the whole 40k universe. Get a few on those to support the attack.

The result is a varied list that is fast enough (Pods, TWC, Sicarans) to dedicate combat and mobile as well as flexible enough to adapt to situations, much like a rugged hunter should.

Sounds like a plan, I think

Thoughts?

the_scotsman wrote:
So the trouble is that this natural aesthetic doesn't really exist in as pure a form as you want in 40k

Yay. I'd go to say that the writers of Wh40k were all hardcore urbanites: Animals, nature and the wild are seldom presented in a positive light. More often, they are used as tools to be abused or as symbols of brutality, backwardness and inhumanity. I dare say the only faction that displays a positive connection to nature are the Space Wolves. Snakebite Orks would be second, but in their case their wild ways are mostly played for laughs.

My choice? A custom Imperial Guard regiment. Mimicking the looks of the Huntsmaster in the OP's picture wouldn't be hard using third party and WHFB bits. Sure, the Guard puts quite a bit of faith in their vehicles, but in real life all-terrain trucks, helicopters and bush planes are an outdoorsman's tools of the trade, and it would be easy to modify Chimeras, Taurox and Valkyries to resemble the vehicles used by a woodlands scout company or a band of hunters.

It's in the "animal" part where IG falters. Well, you have Rough RIders, the ONLY unit in all of 40k to ride to battle on horseback and not on some machine or daemonic aberration, though they are usually regarded as a weak unit.

You would probably have more luck in Warhammer Fantasy for finding your 'woodsman' image.

As it stands, SW probably fit your image best with Thunderwolves. But you don't like super-powered humans and really, the only non-superpowered humans are AM, but you're never going to find things associated with the 'wild' and 'forest' in there.

You could do some crazy conversions though and say your regiment/chapter is a branch of SW/AM (whichever route you decide to go for). So long as your clear on what everything is you shouldn't have problems.

Nah, Fantasy ain't my cup of tea. As I said, strictly 40k discussion here.
As for the conversions, I would probably use Scions as base and mix them up with some Chaos Marauder and Grey Hunter bits and plenty of Green Stuff. They will have the same size and they will have their Bolter. I do not see an issue here.


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 Agent_Tremolo wrote:

the_scotsman wrote:
So the trouble is that this natural aesthetic doesn't really exist in as pure a form as you want in 40k

Yay. I'd go to say that the writers of Wh40k were all hardcore urbanites: Animals, nature and the wild are seldom presented in a positive light. More often, they are used as tools to be abused or as symbols of brutality, backwardness and inhumanity. I dare say the only faction that displays a positive connection to nature are the Space Wolves. Snakebite Orks would be second, but in their case their wild ways are mostly played for laughs.

My choice? A custom Imperial Guard regiment. Mimicking the looks of the Huntsmaster in the OP's picture wouldn't be hard using third party and WHFB bits. Sure, the Guard puts quite a bit of faith in their vehicles, but in real life all-terrain trucks, helicopters and bush planes are an outdoorsman's tools of the trade, and it would be easy to modify Chimeras, Taurox and Valkyries to resemble the vehicles used by a woodlands scout company or a band of hunters.

It's in the "animal" part where IG falters. Well, you have Rough RIders, the ONLY unit in all of 40k to ride to battle on horseback and not on some machine or daemonic aberration, though they are usually regarded as a weak unit.

Sounds like Taniths First and Only to me

When I had Marines, I used a Ral Partha 'scavenger dragon' as a Dreadnought which worked pretty well, being about the same size.

well, space wolves work. But also, if you want an army with a lot of synergy DE kinda work.

^ Space wolves have insane amounts of synergy >.>


If you want to run a heavy hitting marine army, with cool space Vikings (runes and axes everywhere) that also happen to ride on huge wolves, while wearing animal pelts, and having a very animalistic style of play/fluff all while meeting your hunter likings in their early training Space wolves are for you.

My normal lists are spam infantry listst with lots of pups and thunder wolves running around like cavaliers

Don't forget the Dark Eldar beast masters! Nothing says outdoors manly man like a pack of wolves led by a whip wielding psycho path. Or birds, or geurilla thing.


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Perhaps an unbound army of units cherry picked from other codex's.

Tau. Model the entire army as Kroot (the Riptide is just a bigger and scarier Great Knarloc).

It keeps circling around those three. SW, (D)E and Tau.
Not sure which way to go. Gameplay-wise I think I would enjoy Eldar the least and Tau the most with SW not far behind.
In terms of unit and list diversity, SW any and everyday.

Since I am making them custom either way, I am not sure if I should at play style or visuals. And to be frank, playing Tau without mech and gunline seems a bit restrictive whereas SW has three different FOC options and the ability to play most styles without changing armies. Individually they have less rules than Tau or Eldar though.

Haemonculus covens DE

Reimagine haemies as hinkydink Druids.

Wracks as either hunters or hunting dogs, depending on your slant.

Talos or Cronos as bigger beasties...

Also, bear cavalry is a thing I have seen used as are werewolf models for the SW characters (bran)

If you wanted a bit more variety, there are Scibor's bear-riding Marines:
http://sciborminiatures.com/en_,shop.php?art=1413