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I think I am looking at it from a tactical perspective, but SM shoulderpads look really bad. Also, the backpacks also annoy me. Why are the vents near his head? Anyone looking at him with thermals would see the best target ever.

Yes, I am reading too much into it, I know, but SM is just about the only army I want to field. I wanted an army full of hard to kill characters, so IG (or AM, whatever) and Orks is right out. What do you all think of a SM army, built as an Iron Hands chapter with different colors, and painted without shoulderpads, backpacks, or any religious iconography like purity seals or skulls?

I'm really trying to manufacture an SM army with a U.S. military vet flavor. lots of customized, "personal" bolters. plenty of bionics. Iron Hands seemed to match well, and I didnt want some homebrew chapter that no one wanted to play against, so I figured I would make it exactly the same, just with OD green and yellow colors, and toned down the hatred fluff. (Dear lord, Iron Hands are some angsty @&#^ers.)

The big deal, though, is the shoulderpads and the backpacks. As seasoned 40k players, what would you say if someone walked into your FLGS with an SM army like that?

You can assemble and paint them however you like - I think Iron Hands is a good chapter to do it with too.

Playing against it (I don't play), the only consideration I guess would be the fact that you are making the model smaller - making it potentially harder to hit (from the side, you have thinned the model by 1/3rd). You need to have some kind of backpack to avoid that, why not just cut the vents off completely so it is more streamlined? Pretty hard to complain about it then, and it doesn't look to bad either!

Shoulderpads I don't think will be an issue.

Or you could just get the Valkyr powered armor from DreamForege Games...

I think I am looking at it from a tactical perspective

You in the wrong wargame, man.

If you have to stick with this thing, and SMs are too chunky, and regular IG too weedy, what about *deep breath, sigh* Militarum Tempestus? What used to be kasrkin, or stormtroopers (with better minis), and are a whole army now apparently. How do they play?

 Priest Foxley wrote:
the backpacks also annoy me. Why are the vents near his head? Anyone looking at him with thermals would see the best target ever.

Given that they paint all their equipment bright red, I don't think subtlety is very high on their list of priorities. Anyone looking at them through thermals would probably be busy soiling themselves.

Also you're imposing modern preconceptions about combat, on troops that are thousands of years away, in a universe with daemons and psychics and stuff. If they want to hide themselves they might use something like a dampening field, rather than having to worry about camouflage and keeping a low heat profile. They might not consider that stuff an issue like we would.

As for your, no shoulder pads or backpacks idea. It's your army, you can do what you want. Though I think the big shoulders and backpack help to balance out the big boots. I think the boots on their own would look a bit bottom heavy, but YMMV.

Also fluff-wise those aren't vents, they're thrusters low gravity and space combat. The vents are the small bits further down by the mid/lower torso.

commissarbob wrote:
Or you could just get the Valkyr powered armor from DreamForege Games...

Cool, but they arent out yet.

Vermis, Don't get me wrong, I love SM. I'm just trying to put my own spin on them.

Thank you, Matt. I didn't know that.

Smacks, Thanks for your opinion. I just didn't want to find out that no one would want to play me because my marines didn't look canon.

There are a thousand chapters out there, man. Each of the original legions (numbering tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of marines), like Iron Hands, got broken down into Chapters post-Heresy and there have been numerous subsequent foundings using geneseed stores. There's so much scope in that background for your own personal take

If you want to paint up a bunch in your own scheme and use Iron Hands Chapter tactics then no one can stop you. DIY successors are and have pretty much always been a thing thanks to the broad canvas the above grants us.

Anyone who wouldn't play you because your marines aren't the right colour is probably not worth bothering with.

Aesthetically I have no problems with packs and pads, but if you don't like them then do it your way. It's your models and your army. so long as they're equipped in a game-legal way it's all good.

Yep as long as they are wysiwyg I'm fine. I have my own homebrew chapter and my buddies have no prob with them.

ive seen a couple people using the large pouches instead of the shoulder pads

In the stories it mentions power armour can be internally powered for at least a few hours at a time without need of a backpack. That's a fluff precedent of not needing backpacks.

Furthermore, a long time a go, the correct way to assemble some of the miniatures was without backpacks, so that is a tabletop precedent of not needing backpacks.

Shoulder pads are also somewhat optional, in that they can be removed should they become too damaged or limiting somehow.

Its your army and your models, so do what you want. In my experience most people are delighted to play against something a little different.

 Priest Foxley wrote:

commissarbob wrote:
Or you could just get the Valkyr powered armor from DreamForege Games...

Cool, but they arent out yet.

Er... yes they are. I have several boxes.

Dreamforge, Anvil Industry and Puppetswar are your friends for 3rd party stuff to pare down marines. Especially the Anvil blackops guys, they do a great job of looking functional while still maintaining the silhouette that says "space marine". At least in my opinion anyhow.