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So I'm very much considering making a comeback to 40k with the new edition, unfortunately for me that means an entire new army as it's been since I believe 4th edition since I've played and all models are long gone. I've been thinking a lot about which army to start and have decided to go for a more practical route that'll be ablebto withstand new editions should it need to, which of course means I've chosen Space Marines (A hard pill to swallow as a former Chaos player).

So what I need from the lovely people of these forums is ideas for chapters to pick from. I'd prefer something outside the usual founding chapters but could certainly use their rules. Interesting back story like Soul Drinkers or Astral Claws etc.

I'd also like one that has some nice color too it to keep painting interesting. I like the ideas of say Black Templars or Carcharodon but don't want to paint a wave of gray and black. Staying away from red as a primary part of the scheme would also be helpful since I've painted a ton of Khorne models previously.

Well i can only talk about space wolves but i'm personally happy so far my army is once again a melee force that can handle itself.

Not seen a more traditional space marine force in action yet.

We dont know how chapter tactics will work for sucessor chapters yet. or any chapters at all OR if we will get them at all.

But the basic question would be what kinda play style do you like?

All rounder, Punchy, Shooty, Magiceee

Go for Deathwatch. Super low model count and extra tough now with more wounds.

I don't necessarily have a preference at the moment but I liked the idea of a rapid assault force, drop pods didn't exist when I played last haha.

Are there any other chapters that turned traitor like the Astral Claws or Soul Drinkers that have enough info before they turned?

I'm in a similar boat, looking at coming back after years. I can't decide on what chapter I would like to build. I kind of liked some of the background for the Celestial Lions but I know some chapters got wiped out in the edition change and I haven't found a list of which ones yet. Anyone seen such a list?

Why not actually go for Astral Claws if they interest you? They have rules the same as any other chapter, so no actual Chapter Tactics anymore but are recognized as their own thing for <Chapter>. And they have rules and models for Huron and Valthex, and rules for a couple of other characters. They've taken a slightly harder focus on Terminators than they used to be with typical aura buffs and a bit of a focus on Bolters when using Valthex compared to the Skilled Rider ability they used to have in 7th as a buff to Bikes. They do pretty well with hard striking units out of Drop Pods or things like the Caestus Assault Ram, keeping with the 'boarding vessels' theme that is stronger in the old Tyrant's Legion list, so having a rapid assault force isn't off fluff.

herbie93 wrote:
I've been thinking a lot about which army to start and have decided to go for a more practical route that'll be ablebto withstand new editions should it need to, which of course means I've chosen Space Marines (A hard pill to swallow as a former Chaos player).

Here's a nice place to start, as these boys are new on the block and will likely get lavishings of attention by GW in the next year or so:
https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Primaris-Space-Marines-Captain
https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Primaris-Space-Marines-Librarian-Epistolary

Astral Claws are definitely on the short list, I just wasn't sure if there were more like them and as well fleshed out. Hard to find them when they tend to change names after defecting.

Are their rules in the new indexes or in new forge world sruff?

Astral Claws characters are in the Forge World Astartes Index. Other Chapters of note are the Minotaurs (gold/bronze Space Marine killer Chapter) , Raptors (olive drab but lore references to camo), Red Scorpions (gray but a decent backstory and decent characters).

In the Blood Angel section of the regular Index you have the Flesh Tearers who have a handful of novellas and maybe a novel or two and rules for their Chapter Master. They were in the limelight for a minute during the Shield of Baal campaign and are more of a wine red than blood red, if that helps at all.

So I've been reading more on the Astral Claws and the Badab War and I'm really lile all the fluff and options for that kind of army so I think that's going to be what I go with. Seems to be a lot of flexibility with army composition depending on what time frame I want to focus on, or all of it haha.

Is it just the characters in the new forge world index or are the units and stuff there too?

Apparently the Space Marines will be the first army to get a proper 8th edition Codex (no surprise there) and it is coming quite soon (just a few months, which is surprising). If you are not in a hurry, it might be worth holding on to see what options the new Codex has before you make any decisions.

 Karhedron wrote:
Apparently the Space Marines will be the first army to get a proper 8th edition Codex (no surprise there) and it is coming quite soon (just a few months, which is surprising). If you are not in a hurry, it might be worth holding on to see what options the new Codex has before you make any decisions.

Sauce? I heard the first was Eldar, but no source was provided.

Yea I had just seen that too, Beasts of War I think it was.

I didn't plan on diving in head first quite yet, need to play more demos and pick up the rulebook anyway. Probably start with a tactical squad to work on painting and such.

herbie93 wrote:
So I've been reading more on the Astral Claws and the Badab War and I'm really lile all the fluff and options for that kind of army so I think that's going to be what I go with. Seems to be a lot of flexibility with army composition depending on what time frame I want to focus on, or all of it haha.

Is it just the characters in the new forge world index or are the units and stuff there too?

It's just characters. No Astral Claw specific units. They will be using the same units as every other Space Marine Chapter out of the normal Imperium 1 Index and have access to the FW units the same as everyone else. The flavor comes from the Character choice right now. Used to be there were a few special units with Astral Claws, like a unit of close combat specialists all with Boarding Shields, but right now they don't exist. You can build the same unit out of a Command Squad with Storm Shields if you like but it's not unique to Astral Claws now.