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Well, although I've already got more than enough to do with my Exodites, Eldar, True Kin and Croneworlders I've been thinking about some other cool fluffy ideas for alternative armies within the 40k lore. I'll likely never get round to actually making them, based on my current rate of painting the models I actually have, but I was wondering if anyone else had any cool ideas.

So far, the ones I've come up with are:

Ultramar PDF
Small SM force allied with IG veteran forces painted in Ultrasmurfs livery to represent Chapter Serfs. You could do blob-guard with SM vehicles to represent an army that's primarily armed by their SM lords. You could have fun converting all the cybernetic enhancements they're supposed to have as well.

Knight World Militia
Brettonians in spaaaace. Single Imperial Knight, again with foot-guard allied and painted up like grimdark Brettonian men-at-arms, with Sentinels to represent mounted divisions. Even better, ally in some Skitarii for access to Dragoons to expand on the knightly theme, and Skitarii Rangers as 'longbowmen' with archaeo-tech rifles

Anyone else got any cool ideas? Doesn't have to be Imperium-based.

The Imperium has landed and begun mining operations on a new planet. 3 months into their dig they break through the rock into a massive system of caverns and tunnels. The colonists are soon overrun by massive waves of giant rats wielding crude weaponry and armor. The local militia is no match for their numbers. Upon subjugation of the local population the rats seemingly impossibly reverse engineer all technology the colonists brought with them. The rats then force the remaining human population into slavery mining a strange green stone from the caverns they emerged from, which they then use to enhance their reverse engineered technology into weapons and warmachines. Three months after introduction to 41st millennium technology the rats take to space and begin popping up on all nearby imerpial worlds seemingly burrowing out of warpspace to wreak havoc, take prisoners and steal tech only to disappear as fast as they came. Librarians have begun to detect a new presence in the warp as they see visions of a massive horned rat laughing as the galaxy burns.

Here's one:

The Paragon Blades - A Slannesh warband, believed to have its origins in the Emperor's Children Legion, but since having acquired recruits from countless other Chapters and recruiting worlds.

The Paragons are obsessed with outward beauty, believing strength, beauty, and all other physical positive traits are signs of Slannesh's favor, and thus of divinity. Unlike the hideously mutated noise marines and half-spawned beasts other portions of the Legion became, the Paragons have only grown younger and prettier with the passing eons, until even their armor has curved and warped to capture their magnificence.

The Paragon recruitment method is to find those specimens they believe to be their equal, and induct them as marines. Their geneseed is actually, one might say, perfect, and most attempts to create a recruit are successful. However, while implantation is usually successful, the Paragons have been known to terminate new recruits, if they perceive the process has in some way damaged their beauty.

A large body of cultists and hangers on's can be found aboard the gilded vessels of the Paragons, as the warband will take on anyone who catches their eye for a time. In turn, these elevated humans (and some whisper, Xenos) who are accepted view the Paragons like angels, who have recognized that they are better than the common ilk of the galaxy.

Of course, what perfection the Paragons show outwardly, hides the rot within. They are preening fools at times, fleeing the field of battle rather than risk their perfect skin. They venerate their cultists as no other warband... until they inevitably age or lose their splendor. Then, they may linger on as put-upon and abused servants, suitable only for mockery. This disloyalty exists in the warband as well, as wounded or disfigured members immediately lose what authority they once had, and may even find themselves slain by their brothers, who consider what they do a "mercy."

The actual army would be a Slannesh themed CSM army, using Blood Angel Sanguinary Guard bits for the muscular humanoid power armor chests and haloed death masks. Cultists would mostly be taken from alternate companies, to reflect a prettier sort of scum than is typical in the Chaos hordes. The color scheme would be the basic deep purples, silver, and gold, with the goal being to create something so pleasing to the eye that the viewer would at first not realize these are villains.

 zeragrin wrote:

Spoiler:

The Imperium has landed and begun mining operations on a new planet. 3 months into their dig they break through the rock into a massive system of caverns and tunnels. The colonists are soon overrun by massive waves of giant rats wielding crude weaponry and armor. The local militia is no match for their numbers. Upon subjugation of the local population the rats seemingly impossibly reverse engineer all technology the colonists brought with them. The rats then force the remaining human population into slavery mining a strange green stone from the caverns they emerged from, which they then use to enhance their reverse engineered technology into weapons and warmachines. Three months after introduction to 41st millennium technology the rats take to space and begin popping up on all nearby imerpial worlds seemingly burrowing out of warpspace to wreak havoc, take prisoners and steal tech only to disappear as fast as they came. Librarians have begun to detect a new presence in the warp as they see visions of a massive horned rat laughing as the galaxy burns.

Heh I like this. How would you represent them using current codices?

Skitarii Vanguard and Rangers would be a good start I reckon. What about your other units?

Oggthrok wrote:

Spoiler:

Here's one:

The Paragon Blades - A Slannesh warband, believed to have its origins in the Emperor's Children Legion, but since having acquired recruits from countless other Chapters and recruiting worlds.

The Paragons are obsessed with outward beauty, believing strength, beauty, and all other physical positive traits are signs of Slannesh's favor, and thus of divinity. Unlike the hideously mutated noise marines and half-spawned beasts other portions of the Legion became, the Paragons have only grown younger and prettier with the passing eons, until even their armor has curved and warped to capture their magnificence.

The Paragon recruitment method is to find those specimens they believe to be their equal, and induct them as marines. Their geneseed is actually, one might say, perfect, and most attempts to create a recruit are successful. However, while implantation is usually successful, the Paragons have been known to terminate new recruits, if they perceive the process has in some way damaged their beauty.

A large body of cultists and hangers on's can be found aboard the gilded vessels of the Paragons, as the warband will take on anyone who catches their eye for a time. In turn, these elevated humans (and some whisper, Xenos) who are accepted view the Paragons like angels, who have recognized that they are better than the common ilk of the galaxy.

Of course, what perfection the Paragons show outwardly, hides the rot within. They are preening fools at times, fleeing the field of battle rather than risk their perfect skin. They venerate their cultists as no other warband... until they inevitably age or lose their splendor. Then, they may linger on as put-upon and abused servants, suitable only for mockery. This disloyalty exists in the warband as well, as wounded or disfigured members immediately lose what authority they once had, and may even find themselves slain by their brothers, who consider what they do a "mercy."

The actual army would be a Slannesh themed CSM army, using Blood Angel Sanguinary Guard bits for the muscular humanoid power armor chests and haloed death masks. Cultists would mostly be taken from alternate companies, to reflect a prettier sort of scum than is typical in the Chaos hordes. The color scheme would be the basic deep purples, silver, and gold, with the goal being to create something so pleasing to the eye that the viewer would at first not realize these are villains.

I really like that idea daemonette in a Blood Angel's clothing...

Mordian Iron Guard look preened enough to pass for some of the looks-focused cultists. You could look at bare Eldar heads for other 'pretty' cultists. The bare Guardian heads I think look particularly 'pristine'.

If it were me, I'd put in the occasional little flaw/chaosy mutation to make it seem like not everything is as it seems. Maybe something like the odd random tentacle poking out of a sleeve instead of a hand, made to seem like the cultist in question is trying to hide it...

Ynneadwraith wrote:
Heh I like this. How would you represent them using current codices?

Clanrats would be much like IG shock troops, only with warp infused flash lights. Elite units woud be similiar to Triarch Praetorians, "WarpRunners" blinking in and out of warpspace for hit and run tactics. HQ units with something along the lines of a homing beacon, to allow for more accurate burrowing. Tanks with warpstone lightning batteries, using Tesla as a base rule for multiple chain lightning style wounds. Warlock Engineers essentially unchanged, but with a ratty discipline possibly mimicking the new chaos spell set. As far as actual models would go I would use Mantic's Veer-myn (http://www.manticgames.com/mantic-shop/warpath/veer-myn.html) with 40k bits.

Ynneadwraith wrote:

I really like that idea daemonette in a Blood Angel's clothing...

Mordian Iron Guard look preened enough to pass for some of the looks-focused cultists. You could look at bare Eldar heads for other 'pretty' cultists. The bare Guardian heads I think look particularly 'pristine'.

If it were me, I'd put in the occasional little flaw/chaosy mutation to make it seem like not everything is as it seems. Maybe something like the odd random tentacle poking out of a sleeve instead of a hand, made to seem like the cultist in question is trying to hide it...

I was thinking that, whenever a company produces a "female commissar" they tend to make them a little more... asset-y... than people make the male ones, and a pack of them, with a few pretty boys, would play the role really well.

But, the way I imagined the army, there would be no mutations, except perhaps in their youthful good looks growing perverse in their exaggeration. Instead, the unsettling nature of them is that at first glance they look like flawless heroes. Like, you would want to be around these people, if you didn't know them.

But in time, you realize how dreadful their behavior is - imagine all of the things models do to stay "perfect" in the real world, and apply it to a space marine. Eating disorders, quests for relics to preserve an aging leader's looks, ridiculous rituals and superstitions to preserve their looks that Slannesh views as worship, ruthless theft from "lesser" humanity who they deem as worthless for being less than perfect, and so on.

I think an important angle though, is that the Paragon Blades do not fit the "Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll" motif typical of a Slanneshi warband. Far from embodying the body modification and wreckless nature of punks, this is entirely aesthetic as religion. Outsiders expecting to see licentiousness on display during a cultist gathering may be horrified to discover its nothing more than marines striking poses, while their admirers oooh and aaah and comment on their excellent form. Popularity is the coin of their cult, and popularity is based entirely on appearance and presentation. It could drive another Emperor's Children's warband as crazy as it would a World Eater one.

There's just one problem... those darned Sanguinary Guard chest pieces are hard to come by, and they're covered in blood drops and purity seals. I played around with the idea for a little bit, and decided to stick to a Khorne themed army. At the very least, all they need are chainaxes and bunny ears to fit their fluff perfectly.

http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Flawless_Host%2C_The?_ga=1.49622054.1070902962.1467461728

Ah i see, like Sigvald the Magnificent style Slaanesh worship.

I like it a lot. Bit of a critique on modern celebrity culture too

Yeah the sanguinary guard chest pieces would be hard to comy by, and would need a lot of tue iconography dremelling off...

Would be cool though

I have a bit of headcanon for my Tau FSE. Asteroid miners. If you have suits, why mine resources on a planet that either we could colonize or have to fight another race over?

It also explains why I use Orks Shootas for stand in kroot. Kroot don't wear environmental suits, and orks don't need them. That the models are bulkier and less likely to snap off at the thin parts is (not in)consequential.

I've had a long standing custom chapter that's a successor to the Dark Angels. Their first Chapter Master was old as . Originally had him as having been in the legion at the tale end of the heresy but scrapped that. The chapter is 3rd or 4th founding. Either way, the idea is the First Chapter Master felt that the hunt for The Fallen was starting to consume the Dark Angels to the point of idiocy. He understood the need for it but was enraged when they would leave Imperial Forces to die just to check out a rumor of the fallen. Obviously, he kept it mostly to himself. So when he was given command of a new Chapter, he secretly (lol Dark Angels) shrunk the inner circle more so than other Unforgiven Chapters. For the most part, Masters of the battle and reserve companies didn't know about the fallen. Only the first (and to a certain extent, 2nd) company knew. That way they would focus on their true mission: Protecting the Imperium while their Deathwing and Ravenwing would respond to rumors of The Fallen when needed. To that end, each company would be permanently assigned an Interrogator Chaplain, whose job it was to watch for signs of The Fallen and ensure the Company maintained its course even when signs were spotted. He'd then lead elements of the second and first companies against The Fallen, or call for aid.

Each Chapter Master after him has tilted the scale in one direction or another and sometimes it becomes a major "political" issue within the chapter. On one hand, many from the Deathwing and Ravenwing are often more militant about bring the Chapter more in line with the tenants of the Dark Angels methods, while the Librarians and Interrogators (strangely enough) are opposed, wishing to keep the Chapter with the wishes of the Anteziel Seleucus, the First Chapter Master. Their tendency to be less zealous about their hunt for the fallen has even led them to conflict (mostly non-violent) with other Unforgiven, especially the Dark Angels. The later having, in the past, tried to influence the picking of a new Chapter Master.

Like most of the Unforgiven, they hate laurels and praise. They just want to do their job. But they take it to an extreme. Essentially, you aren't entitled to your awards/honors until you're dead. As a result, their armor is very sparse. There's very little if any decoration or personal touches. When a marine is given an award, it is expected of him that he place the award on the Wall of Honor when they return to the Fortress Monastery. Each company has a spot on the wall. If possible upon his death, they'll place all the awards on his body after removing them from the wall. I represent this with sparsely decorated models, even the big dogs. Robes and a few winged helmets are about as fancy as they get.

I'm currently working on an update now that I'm back. Something to explain why the Chapter has a ton of Mk IV armor. And now that I've sold off my Deathwing army, why they have so few terminators compared to the rest of the Dark Angels successors. Probably cut off from the Imperium for a time and found an ancient armory/forge world/manufactorum. And the Terminators lost would be due to time and or lost at the hands of Fallen ambush.

Also thought about...what if the new Chapter Master (who's always been a younger than usual guy through all his iterations) was actually a fallen who managed to infiltrate the chapter somehow? Sorry for the wall of text. lol

I have two such "heavily themed armies" that I'll never finish. But I treat myself to some modding and painting now and then. I do however play small skirmishes with them. Such as Kill team, Inquisimunda or Mutants and Death Ray Guns.

1 A highly radical ordo xenos inquisitor that do not trust humans, so she only uses abhumans, xenos and clones of her self. So many possible conversions in an excellent gothic Blanche-style! This one is based on the main antagonist from a long Dark Heresy campaign I GMed, where she had a long term plot to implant genestealer cults on select planets to lure in a tyranid fleet in a somewhat controlled fashion. Probably best counted as inquisitor with mixed imperial units, but options are to count as chaos marines or maybe even orcs if I want a more feral feeling.

2 A desperate militia (or maybe revolution army) from a highly industrialised world. Many mechanised exo skeletons, heavy wehicles and similar. Rusty yellow and civilian clothes. Many of the new genestealer cultist models will be used for this... or maybe they will simply be included into the Genestealer Cult ;-)

I love the idea of a radical Inquisitor purposefully spreading Genestealer Cults to try and lure Tyranid hive fleets where they want them. Seems like one of the few ways the Imperium could get one up on the Tyranids.

A renegade marine chapter that has not fallen to Chaos but instead decided that the one true god is the Machine God, the Omnissiah who is not the the emperor to them. They run around searching for archotech occasionally swindling Terran forces out of stuff. They are supported by forgeworlds who are not inclined to oppose them for worshiping the Omnissiah.

They would be a sort of IronHands with Word Bearer like faith in their Machine God.

 Exergy wrote:
A renegade marine chapter that has not fallen to Chaos but instead decided that the one true god is the Machine God, the Omnissiah who is not the the emperor to them. They run around searching for archotech occasionally swindling Terran forces out of stuff. They are supported by forgeworlds who are not inclined to oppose them for worshiping the Omnissiah.

They would be a sort of IronHands with Word Bearer like faith in their Machine God.

The Sons of Medusa, a chapter succesor of the Irond hands that begun a civil war in their ranks. They followed a heretical doctrine that believed that the Omnisiah was sending a message in the patterns of the cosmical white noise, and a strong schism in the mechanicum was produced. The Sons of medusa fought in the Badab war and they have profile for their chapter master, Kardan stronos.

http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Sons_of_Medusa

When I build an army I choose I piece of lore and I try to reflect it in my organization, the Rites of war of Horus Heresy help a lot in the marines army. I have a Dreadnought Iron Hands force, a Pride of the Legion Ultramarines army (veterans and terminators), a Night Lords assault army...

For the 40k I taked the Badab War as inspiration for a Lamenters army (Blood Angels succesors) and the other chapters that guard the Maelstrom. Now I am building an Altansar (maybe chaos corrupted eldar) and Ulthwe combined force, using the references for the Eye of terror campaign and a Blood Axes army for the Armaggedon campaign.

The inquisition gives me lot of inspiration too, some of them coming from the novels or from the roleplaying games, I used to collect a Grey Knight, Deathwacht and inquisitorial army (before the Deathwacht codex).

If you like the literature behind the game the problem it is not to find inspiration, but to choose between all the ideas that flow in your mind.

My Killteam, the Eliminators

A space marine chapter that went blackshield during the Horus heresy. During the confusion of the war they raided their geneseed stock to insure their future survival, and disappeared to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. They still loosely follow the codex and are loyal to the Emperor but are extremely paranoid of other chapters due to the betrayal of the Horus heresy. They hire themselves out as mercenaries, preferring working for rogue traders.

 Exergy wrote:
A renegade marine chapter that has not fallen to Chaos but instead decided that the one true god is the Machine God, the Omnissiah who is not the the emperor to them. They run around searching for archotech occasionally swindling Terran forces out of stuff. They are supported by forgeworlds who are not inclined to oppose them for worshiping the Omnissiah.

They would be a sort of IronHands with Word Bearer like faith in their Machine God.

Ooh that's cool especially if they're a result of the scheming of the Mechanicus. Like the Minotaurs are suspected to be the hidden hand of the High Lords of Terra, with their founding and much of their history kept under lock and key.

Your chapter could be the Mechanicus getting into the game. Covertly, they created a marine chapter which takes its orders from the Mechanicus, 'losing' the details of their founding in the bureaucracy of the Administratum. Although outwardly loyal to the Codex Astartes, the missions they undertake often have a secret secondary objective that furthers the goals of the Ad Mech...

 Mrs. Esterhouse wrote:
My Killteam, the Eliminators

A space marine chapter that went blackshield during the Horus heresy. During the confusion of the war they raided their geneseed stock to insure their future survival, and disappeared to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. They still loosely follow the codex and are loyal to the Emperor but are extremely paranoid of other chapters due to the betrayal of the Horus heresy. They hire themselves out as mercenaries, preferring working for rogue traders.

This works really well with them being a Kill Team. It fits nicely with the idea of a group of marines (they wouldn't even have been a chapter at the time of the Horus Heresy), fleeing the wrath of the Imperium for a heresy they didn't commit (cue A-Team tune).

To hide from the Imperium, they'd likely have to lay low, operating in small cells of a dozen or so marines rather than company-scale deployments.

Cool idea

 Lusall wrote:
Also thought about...what if the new Chapter Master (who's always been a younger than usual guy through all his iterations) was actually a fallen who managed to infiltrate the chapter somehow?

That's a cool idea, although I'd definitely leave it open as to whether he's loyal or not.

True to the secrecy of the Dark Angels, they keep the motivations and operations of their chapter a closely guarded secret. As per standard practice for Dark Angels successors, covert operatives have been infiltrated into their ranks in an attempt to assess the Chapter's loyalties. Curiously, the majority of operatives have fallen in glorious battle shortly after assignment. Although there is no proof that this is anything other than coincidence, it has aroused suspicion in the inner circle of the Dark Angels. The possibility that the Chapter has been compromised by the Fallen cannot go ignored.

I'm slowly but surely building a post-chapter civil war Blood Ravens army. Depleted ranks, very few vehicles and older equipment (Bolters, armor and vehicles) to show that they are scrapping the bottom of the barrel in their armory. Also using things like the leviathan dreadnought to show that they are indeed running out of equipment options and are fielding even dangerous weapons to try and secure victory. Add in a permanent inquisitor and retinue as 'allies' who keep one eye open at all times and you've got what should eventually look like a pretty cool army!

 Exergy wrote:
A renegade marine chapter that has not fallen to Chaos but instead decided that the one true god is the Machine God, the Omnissiah who is not the the emperor to them. They run around searching for archotech occasionally swindling Terran forces out of stuff. They are supported by forgeworlds who are not inclined to oppose them for worshiping the Omnissiah.

They would be a sort of IronHands with Word Bearer like faith in their Machine God.

From a modelling perspective this opens up lots of opportunities to model fancy AM machinery and weapons on your troops and vehicles, using counts as rules. The artist side of me is giddy at the thought. imagine electro marines, marines missed with Skitarii gear and machines. Maybe even convert some of your vehicles to walkers (this can be done while keeping LOS etc appropriate).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Latest idea: Lizardmen, in spaaace!

The fluff background being that they're hinted at being regressed descendants of the Old Ones, or one of their less successful creations.

Two options for creating this army.

Option 1: Space Marines with allied IG
Saurus Warriors with Kroot Rifles and various other little bits of armour and ammo to make them look more '40k. The rules used for these would be Space Marine Scouts. S4, T4 with 24" Rapid Fire weapons, 4+ armour, Scout, Infiltrate and Move Through Cover seems to fit the idea of 'Space Saurus' quite nicely.

For a HQ, I'm thinking an Old Blood as a counts-as Chaplain

Skinks with autoguns, plus the added 40k-ness.

A Skink Starpriest would make for a rather cool looking Primaris Psyker, and the various Skink heroes would be good for sergeants.

Option 2: Head-swapped Mechanicus
This ups the 40k-ness a little more, and is based on this kickass picture:



Basically, take Skitarii Rangers, Vanguard and Sicarians, scratch off the Mechanicum logos, and swap the heads out for skinks!

I'll have to check the scales between skink heads and the Skitarii bodies, but I think they fit together quite nicely. Especially the Sicarians with their digitigrade legs.

The only issue would be lack of psykers (from a fluff-based perspective, I'd expect most Old One creations to at least have some psyker presence). I suppose that could be sorted by an allied detachment of IG with less augmented skinks as a platoon, and then pinch the Starpriest Primaris Psyker idea from above

Ynneadwraith wrote:

 Exergy wrote:
A renegade marine chapter that has not fallen to Chaos but instead decided that the one true god is the Machine God, the Omnissiah who is not the the emperor to them. They run around searching for archotech occasionally swindling Terran forces out of stuff. They are supported by forgeworlds who are not inclined to oppose them for worshiping the Omnissiah.

They would be a sort of IronHands with Word Bearer like faith in their Machine God.

Ooh that's cool especially if they're a result of the scheming of the Mechanicus. Like the Minotaurs are suspected to be the hidden hand of the High Lords of Terra, with their founding and much of their history kept under lock and key.

Your chapter could be the Mechanicus getting into the game. Covertly, they created a marine chapter which takes its orders from the Mechanicus, 'losing' the details of their founding in the bureaucracy of the Administratum. Although outwardly loyal to the Codex Astartes, the missions they undertake often have a secret secondary objective that furthers the goals of the Ad Mech...

The Steel Confessors were such a chapter created by the Ad Mech to be their private strike force answering to them only. It was sanctioned at a high level. They later got folded into the adeptes astartes with little punishment being metered out. Terra can really only slap Mars's wrist once or twice, as they are supposedly equal partners in the empire.



I like the idea of being fallen. In fact my personal chapter is actually in some way worshiping chaos, or in so far as they want to be unbound to study whatever type of tech they like. It includes IG and Ad Mech allies in a sort of heretic cult for the Omnissiah. There are a lot of options though as to how far you want to take it.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Troy wrote:


From a modelling perspective this opens up lots of opportunities to model fancy AM machinery and weapons on your troops and vehicles, using counts as rules. The artist side of me is giddy at the thought. imagine electro marines, marines missed with Skitarii gear and machines. Maybe even convert some of your vehicles to walkers (this can be done while keeping LOS etc appropriate).

Troy wrote:

From a modelling perspective this opens up lots of opportunities to model fancy AM machinery and weapons on your troops and vehicles, using counts as rules. The artist side of me is giddy at the thought. imagine electro marines, marines missed with Skitarii gear and machines. Maybe even convert some of your vehicles to walkers (this can be done while keeping LOS etc appropriate).

Now you're talking! There's so much you could do with Ad Mech bits mashed together with Marines.

How about this?

Counts-as Marines/IG forces from a rogue Magos Biologis. SM scouts rules for beefed up genetically engineered skitarii footsoldiers. Ally in some Ogryn for the really beefy guys. Scatter with conversion-heavy Skitarii and blend

Also, I've bitten the bullet and ordered some bits to do a trial-run of the Lizardmen pic above I'll post them up here once I've got the first few together

A mad scientist themed Chaos Space Marine army with lots of Nurgle & Tzeentch forces to represent altered marines with admech, skitari, or even xenos allies to represent various gribbly science experiments.

Dark Eldar with blob-guard & penal legionaries to represent a Dark Eldar slaver empire in real-space.

There's tons of possibilities. That's one of the things I love about 40k.

Lizardmen in space makes me think of the Klegg from Judge Dredd. Very cool!

 Mrs. Esterhouse wrote:
Lizardmen in space makes me think of the Klegg from Judge Dredd. Very cool!

Excellent. I would also note you could use Nuns with Guns rules. Acts of Faith etc could represent psyker powers or advanced tech.

Ynneadwraith wrote:

 Lusall wrote:
Also thought about...what if the new Chapter Master (who's always been a younger than usual guy through all his iterations) was actually a fallen who managed to infiltrate the chapter somehow?

That's a cool idea, although I'd definitely leave it open as to whether he's loyal or not.

True to the secrecy of the Dark Angels, they keep the motivations and operations of their chapter a closely guarded secret. As per standard practice for Dark Angels successors, covert operatives have been infiltrated into their ranks in an attempt to assess the Chapter's loyalties. Curiously, the majority of operatives have fallen in glorious battle shortly after assignment. Although there is no proof that this is anything other than coincidence, it has aroused suspicion in the inner circle of the Dark Angels. The possibility that the Chapter has been compromised by the Fallen cannot go ignored.

Yeah, if I go that route in my terrible fan fiction/chapter fluff I'm for sure going to keep it vague. The chapter is all ready under scrutiny by the Dark Angels for their "lax" view on hunting the fallen. Like, there's two incidents in recent years where the chapter seemed to ignore signs of the fallen or even ignored a request for aid from the Dark Angels or another Unforgiven chapter. So while the fallen marines might have gotten away/killed the other Unforgiven marines sent to hunt them, the chapter stopped an Ork Whaagh! dead in its tracks, or defeated a Night Lords assault on a planet.

Troy wrote:

Excellent. I would also note you could use Nuns with Guns rules. Acts of Faith etc could represent psyker powers or advanced tech.

Good idea that could fluff it up as rather than dedicated psykers, they all have some low-level group psychic potential, allowing units to buff themselves in combat.

Thinking about it, that would work for Skitarii Doctrina Imperatives as well

 Mrs. Esterhouse wrote:
My Killteam, the Eliminators

A space marine chapter that went blackshield during the Horus heresy. During the confusion of the war they raided their geneseed stock to insure their future survival, and disappeared to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. They still loosely follow the codex and are loyal to the Emperor but are extremely paranoid of other chapters due to the betrayal of the Horus heresy. They hire themselves out as mercenaries, preferring working for rogue traders.

Pretty cool idea. If you ever want to expand their numbers or equipment you could say that they have something like a hidden transmission for renegade chapters that don't want to go chaos, so they have added a lot to their ranks

 Mrs. Esterhouse wrote:
My Killteam, the Eliminators

A space marine chapter that went blackshield during the Horus heresy. During the confusion of the war they raided their geneseed stock to insure their future survival, and disappeared to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. They still loosely follow the codex and are loyal to the Emperor but are extremely paranoid of other chapters due to the betrayal of the Horus heresy. They hire themselves out as mercenaries, preferring working for rogue traders.

They would be a part of one of the legions, not a chapter if they went renegade during the HH.

They could of course adopt a style of chapter later, to confuse other members of the IoM as to their true identity.

Getting enough geneseed for 10,000 years during the HH in one go would be very difficult. For 10,000 years that would be enough gene seed to create an entire new legion of space marines, and during the HH it was in short supply. Hence why Corax ended up creating a bunch of abominations while trying to recover his loses after Istvaan. Far easier to explain that they scavenge it along the way or have a forgeworld that is cooking it up and willing to trade with them.

Probably best to make them a renegade/traitor portion of one of the Loyalist legions, so they can still get geneseed. The Ad Mech still creates and maintains all the bloodlines, but the loyalist stuff is far more common and might show up in a rogue traders inventory. If they dont care about their bloodline/lineage, then I guess they could use whatever geneseed they can get their hands on.

I admit my knowledge of 40k lore is quite minimal. I really like the concept of the blackshields and want to use them. I tend to use the ultramarines chapter tactics so I guess it makes more sense they went rogue after the HH. Plus all my marines are in MarkVl and MarkVll power armor!
Maybe they went blackshield during HH but remained loyal and when returning to the IoM they retained their blackshield traditions?
Or went rogue much much later, closer to the 40k era?
Any ideas or suggestion welcome.

I think something that would be neat to see is a gluttony themed Slaanesh army but instead of an army of morbidly obese individuals, they're wendigos. It would probably be spawn heavy army as per wendigo mythology, the more they eat, the larger they get and less of their personality and sanity they retain so spawn would probably fit this fairly well. Possessed Marines being those on the descent into hunger induced insanity and anyone not a possessed or spawn is doing their damnedest to not give into the hunger for human flesh.