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I love the idea of an 'Imperial army'. That is, the many factions which make up the myriad forces of the Imperium coming together by chance or design to repel invasion or going on crusade. I just have this vision in my head of (for example) an Imperial guard force desperately defending a ruined city backed up by mechanicus forces and titans. Priests waving Eviscerators and prayer books striding through the ranks, beseeching the Emperor. Drop pods start appearing as the space marines come to save the day...you get the picture, right?
My goal is to bring my vision to the tabletop and I'm well on my way with IG and space marines. Just admech, assassins, inquisition, knights and the ecclesiarchy to go...
anyway I've been trying to find someone on the glorious Web who shares this vision but maybe I'm just not Googling it right because I find nothing.
So my question is this: is it just me? Is it just me who loves the idea of this mad, multi-faceted explosion of religion and science and boltguns?
I mean it's easy enough to do nowadays what with multiple CAD, formations etc so why can't I find anyone else who is doing this? Is it too ambitious? Nah people do way crazier things all the time like building titans out of toilet roll tubes.
Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction for some more inspiration. In the meantime I'll just dream of my Army of the Imperium.

No, I'm right with ya. That's why my favorite Detachments are Tyrant's Legion, Space Marines using Guard elements and even Militia troops in one army, and the Purge, Nurgle CSM and Renegades in one fluffy list.

The issue really lands in the HQ and Heavy Support choices. When Centurions are 290pts in some cases, Captains can get up to 140 easily, transports are bogging down points, you just never have the points. Sure, you can make a 1500pt list of Imperial Guard, 1000pts of Space Marines and 750pts of Skitarii and a Knight, but now you're at 3500+pts using the smallest points values that make the most out of each army. And nothing in it is going to match a Reaver Titan.

It is much easier to find that Detachment or restrict it to two and find a way to be happy it's that. Make 1000pts of Drop Pod Marines and 1000pts of Imperial Guard. Sure, you can do it. Especially with something like Blood Angels who LOVE Reserves. Your Guard could be Armoured Company or Catachan scouting forces. A highly mobile Regiment calling for support from a small group of Astartes led by a Librarian or Chaplain. No Captains for fluff reasons.

It's possible in smaller scale, but you really are hurting yourself with it sometimes. That's why I like Tyrant's Legion. It's all one Detachment. Elements of whatever I want in one place. Leman Russ in front of a Contemptor Mortis alongside Space Marine Bikes and Militia Infantry.

You're bot alone. I've got some SMs, a Warhound Titan, a newly acquired Reaver Titan, Inqusitional troops, some Aribites. All supplement my main force of IG, mostly Cadian style armor, some Death Corps, working on getting some Elysians in the mix, some Catachen as well. I take it a step further; officers, sergeants, commissars, priests, standard bearers and other random soldiers are all named and hold various ranks. The soldiers are all assigned to specific units, the commissars and priests are attached as needed. Armies are build to fit the fight they are going into. Yup, I'm nuts!

Thanks for the support! Was feeling alone...
I understand the points about points. To take all the elements in anything less than around 3000 points is tough for a viable or even a competitive list. The thing is though I'm only a casual player which means I'm free from the shackles of having to win.
I think what is most important to me as am imperial hobbyist is cohesion. I like the idea that all the different elements of my collection connect. I want to be able to put any of my units together and have them look right. I have a homegrown space marines chapter and guard regiment soon to be joined by skitarii from a custom forgeworld. In the fluff I've written for them they all hail from the same star system. This is partly for my need for cohesion and partly as the backdrop for a casual campaign I will be running with my two friends.
I have 3 main colours in my scheme; grey (for the ash wastes of the Cordaen system), white (for the Emperor, obviously) and red for I'm not quite sure what yet. Red features heavily on my command models like captains and company commanders. this simple scheme speeds up painting and brings the desired cohesion.
I guess I just wanted to see how other people had done it for comparison.
With regards to list building, I think this is a situation where Unbound really comes into its own. I've always liked the idea of unbound, but not unbound abuse, so I'd only consider it for something like this.

I tend to run one or two major Imperial forces with minor support from one or two Inquisitorial or Assassin models.

I totaly agree man, I usually only play with a small group of mates, and we all use fluffy armies. FORGING THE NARRATIVE ROCKS!

I play a combined chaos list at 2500pts I'll use a small hard as nails core of heavy infantry and all the rest of the points sank into a Renegade horde using the IA 13 renegade list.

Usually ends up like this:

Iron Warrior Warpsmith
w/ 10 Havocs + Rhino
2 X Predators
1 X Vindicator
1 X Ferrum Infernus Dreadnought

Night Lord Jago Sevataar of the 41st and a half century.
Fabulous Bile
10 X Raptors
5 X Chosen w/ Rhino

Arch Demagogue w/ Chimera
5 X 20 Grunts w/Lasguns (I usually use these as a charge buffer)
3 Sentinels
Loads of Mortars, heavy mortars and a griffon

Ends up being 28 Marines, 105 Cannon fodder grunts, 4 walkers and 6 Vehicles

My Main opponent runs a Terran army, with parade ground squads, ecclesiarch support, Inquisitorial Storm Troopers with Blood angel drop pods
OR
A beautiful snakebite Ork army w/ the indestructible Morkanought

Combined lists rock

In right there with you, OP, glory to the Imperium of Man!

As owner of about 3k points of Guard, half a dozen Space Marine Chapters, an Inquisition Detachment, a Knight and soon AdMech, I have a hard time coming up with a reason to run single armies at anything above 1k points. As an example, in my last big game, I ran:

A couple of Platoons backed by a Russ and led by a Lord Commissar
Command and Tactical elements from the Ultramarines 2nd Co
Ravenwing and Deathwing
A Knight Paladin
Space Wolves Grey Hunters and TWC
Inquisition elements
Legion of the Damned

More recently, at 1500 I played BA, Raven Guard and Grey Knights in one list, and I can't recall the last time I ran a single-faction list since Allies first became an option.

If you want to do it, do it and enjoy it! Getting a varied but still coherent army on the field is a rewarding sight indeed!

I play Armies of Imperium unbound. Often the points constraits kinda make it so that it's more sensible to just play single book CAD but I don't consider myself an IG player, or a Spacemarine player, but an Imperial player.

sounds awesome! just what i had in mind.
I just remembered the army in the 'A Galaxy of War' book that comes in the 40k rulebook set (the one with the pictures). page 36 'The Imperium's Might'.
That's what I'm thinking of but even more cohesive

I like this if its kept fluffy, not just mashing different imperial forces together saying that's how it should be.

 Hawkeye888 wrote:
I like this if its kept fluffy, not just mashing different imperial forces together saying that's how it should be.

it's definitely for fluffy reasons

From a fluff perspective, the bulk of your force should be guardsmen. Their job is to hold the line and do the bulk of the fighting. You can then support them with small packets of other armies. Either a simple allied detachment, of something a bit bigger, depending. I’d stick with the iconic units from the assorted IoM armies, but you can go with whatever you like. I’d try to get transports for everyone, as most non-guard forces are the kind to rush to key points of the battlefield to shore up a critical point. For small games, stick with one allied force, but as the battle escalates, more special forces would be drawn to the fire.

As for keeping the army looking coherent on the table, there are a few things you might want to try.
Uniform basing. They are all fighting on the same ground.
Campaign markings. If you use these, they can be given to all forces.
Similar palettes. Even it it’s just an accent color that stretches across your armies.

Not at all! I view the Battle Brother clusters (Imperial, Eldar, and Chaos) as single army groups.

My Imperium army will be (when done) a Drop Pod SM force, with IG tanks providing long range artillery support. I haven't really decided how many of the other factions to include and where they will fit. I had an Inquisition force, but the last codex completely invalidated it.

I have a similar thing, at it's heart, it began as a small ordo xenos strike force, an inquisitor with deathwatch marines, but then 6th hit, and all of my inquisitior decided his deathwatch needed meat shields, and so my death korps detachment began, then when the inquisition codex came out, my inquisitor got his own inquisitiorial forces rather than just being a counts-as captain.

My gaming groups battles are all fought as part of the same narrative, and so as the story of our planet has progressed, the armies have progresses too, as the situation on the planet gets worse and worse, my little deathwatch kill team is slowly growing into a full on crusade with support from all parts of the imperium, looking at some of the rumours coming out, they are about to be joined by a knight household and a bunch of admech.

 Nevelon wrote:

As for keeping the army looking coherent on the table, there are a few things you might want to try.
Uniform basing. They are all fighting on the same ground.
Campaign markings. If you use these, they can be given to all forces.
Similar palettes. Even it it’s just an accent color that stretches across your armies.

Agree on all 3 points. All bases will be the same for sure. I've got plenty of what I use.
Hadn't thought of campaign markings but I like the idea. However in my fluff it's more of a desperate defence of their homeworld than a planned campaign so might leave that for now.
As for the colours I mentioned above they are predominantly grey, white and red. I'll post some pics tonight to illustrate my point
And yes my army is mostly guard but from a list building point of view they're cheap leaving me plenty of points to spend elsewhere.

The accent color helps if you are working in forces with set palettes. For example, if you wanted to bring in a force of Ultramarines, if you painted them as 3rd company, you’d get the red shoulder trim that would match the rest of your forces. So even they are mandated to be painted in blue, they get a link to everyone else.

And do post pics. Part of the fun in this hobby is seeing a well made force painted up and ready for battle!

All pics will be strictly WIP lol. I'm a lazy boy :-S
I do have a few things finished but most of my stuff is at the nearly finished stage. Usually I find something else interesting and move on. For example at the moment I should be cracking on with my warriors of chaos army but that seems to have ground to a halt in favour of my imperials. I think it might have been the Skitarii coming out that did it this time


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Ok, here are some pictures as promised. Apologies for the poor quality, I took them on my phone (my camera is even worse!). Also i confess I'm not a great painter. I'm quite happy if I can achieve tabletop standard!
I have created a new gallery (http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/images-80706-46697_Fellwing%20And%20Imperial%20Cordaen%20Guard.html) so I won't post all of them here but I'll put enough on so you see what I'm getting at.
PLEASE NOTE these are all WIP. None of my faces are done yet. I know they look gak.

Tactical Squad first. This is the only squad I have based so far.


Close up of the bases


3 of my sergeants




Now my Sternguard (my favourite squad out of the ones I've painted so far)


Terminator Assault Squad


Scouts


Imperial Guard now, hopefully the connection is obvious?
Psyker

Priest

Another Priest

Commissar front

Commissar back

Guardsmen with camo trousers and basecoats. Taken just after 1st wash.



And finally a small group shot


There you have it!

I've just read the FAQ for posting pictures and I get it now. I'll do it tonight.

I have a suspicion that every imperial player gets this urge - here's my assets;
Ordo Reductor 3390pts
Taghmata Omnissiah 3510pts
Shattered Legion Marines ~1300pts
Crusade Knight Household 2615pts
Tempestus Militarum 2025pts
Skitarii 270pts

so i suppose i'm doing the same but with 30k.

That's sounds great! To me that's what the great crusade was all about. Everyone was having a go! So why should 40k be any different. Just imagine a Decurion type detachment for the forces of the Imperium. most combinations are plausible fluffwise so long as it's interesting and not far fetched (even by 40k standards). After all when a plea for aid is sent, the nearest/ most appropriate forces are despatched. I see my forces, in particular the guard, as urban warfare specialists due to the heavily built up nature of their homeworlds. This also dictates the colour scheme being predominantly grey. It also fits in with the background for my marines. As a Raven Guard successor chapter, stealth is key to their doctrine. I love the idea of assault squads striking from rooftops or from within ruined buildings.
As you can see I've thought this through :-)


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Thinking about appealing to dakka to put an 'Imperial army' section in the army profile pages. Is that something they can do? Or would it be pointless?

I really want to make a force to reenact the third war of Armageddon.

I have the Orks, I have the Black Templar. Now all I need is the IG and the Salamanders. But the Salamanders will probably be last on my list.

However I would love to run a Black Templar and IG combined force. In fact I already have a list I would like to run. This also incluides an Inquisitor, which I don't think was in the book, but It fits the army list well, so it was included.

AM Allied Detachment
CCS w/ 4 meltaguns in Chimera w/ ram, camo netting and heavy stubber = 190
2x Ministorum Priests = 50
Veterans in chimera with ram, camo netting and heavy stubber = 145
2x Wyverns w/ camo netting = 160
Black Templar CAD
Captain w/ artificer armor, storm shield, power weapon = 140
Command Squad w/ 4 meltaguns in DP = 175
5 assault termies. 4 w/ th/ss = 220
LRC = 260
10 marines w/ flamer in DP = 180
10 marines w/ plasma gun in DP = 190
2x Stormtalon w/ skyhammer = 250
Inquisitorial Detachment
Inquisitor w/ liber heresius = 40
Total = 2000


So we've got a LRC flanked by chimeras supported by Wyverns. Then turn 1 two drop pods come down behind enemy lines, as good space marine support should be. The Inquisitor uses his scout rule to scout the LRC up 12" across the board. Both Ministorum priests ride in the LRC with the Terminators giving them rerollable armor saves, hatred, and rerolls to wound. Wyverns lay down long range artillery fire, and then the Space Marine air support comes in.

I do this to a degree.
How I did it was create a world based on the one my old D&D group played in and advanced it thousands of years based on the old D&D fluff.
Some of the "magic" is still around so radical elements of the inquisition are based there. In addition to the inquisition forces, they have brought in their radical knights and worked towards instituting a "normal" space marine chapter as well. Squats play a part in the forces of the "army" and the planet lso has a stong and varied guard regiment. This regiment representing a force present in the old D&D setting
Many of the old customs (and the wealth the inquisition has brought) allows for a small knight force (led by a member representing a historical D&D setting brotherhood) The wealth and leniency of the inquisition has also brought in a small mechanicum force as well.

The guard is the backbone and it is often supported by one or another of the other forces. They all share a common paint scheme with minor variations to help distinguish their particular allegiances.

Nice! Love the idea of priests romping around with terminators and getting up to all sorts of mischief. I think an inquisitor would sit nicely with black templars, fluffy combo!


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 EVIL INC wrote:
The guard is the backbone and it is often supported by one or another of the other forces. They all share a common paint scheme with minor variations to help distinguish their particular allegiances.

Sounds very interesting, do you have any pictures?

I have a few in my gallery here.
my guard's identifying color is yellow with some yellow bits here and there and a B1 on shoulder plate to signify the Bearbane First. Although, I have a couple commanders with indicators in blue (my inquisition color) in addition to signify that they are officers placed in the army to assist the inquisition's work. The yellow is a little understated and not real flashy.

My inquisition color is a light blue. This is not always so obvious as it is often understated. Some models are converted a little obviously from guard models to show that thy pull the best out of the guard army to serve in their own ranks.

My marine colors grey knight colors are identical to the inquisition army with the big rmor plates are done in this so t is a little "flashier" and stands out more.

The mech force's main color is of course red but I will sadly admit, I have only a single tech priest painted and 2 skittarri units build but not painted although I plan on adding 2 more squads and 3 crawlers (these are my newest army/ally.

All ormal armor and guns and such share a common color type of copper drybrushed over black. All leather belts/pouches and such are black with drybrushed grey, the main planet "color' is a desert camo scheme of dark brown with a light brown drybrushed on it. These universal additions tie the force together. Also there is often a "feral and cyberpunk type look throughout here and there.

I think that by sharing subtle (or not so subtle) imilarities among all of your forces such as the items i did, you'll find that even when your forces have a vastly different overall scheme, you'll find your forces starting to look good together on the table.

Edit- I also used the exact same basing on all of my models. many find it funny but I like it. They are all marching on a field of grass with pink and yellow flowers. it helps to tie the force together and is a part of the fluff of the history of the planet Bearbane.