SM Chapters...How to choose?

[Glenn87]

I've got quite alot of SM models here, and I started them out as Salamanders. Then I saw the awesome FW Red Scorpions, so I overpainted them RS style.
but it seems that every other chapter looks awesome as well. Am I the only one who thinks the grass looks greener on the other chapter?
Right now, both Blood Angels and Crimson Fists look apealing (must admit, Kantor does have ALOOT to do with that!)

And if you've chosen a Chapter, on wich base did you select it? Colours, cool Character model, ...?

[Chem-Dog]

When I first started out I chose Blood Angels (back then they were Orange and were pretty Vanilla). After a few attempts at painting them I discovered the technique for painting them back then was nigh-on impossible to get looking good (Teracotta base with a washy Orange over it, looked horrible) so I adopted Salamanders (again, Vanilla at the time) as a nice dark green was much easier to paint at the time.

The 2nd Ed hit and I took a bit of time out from the Imperial Guard to build Blood Angels, they were cool back then, with their heroic tragedy, Sanguinius was the epitome of a Hero, knowingly going to his death.

I formulated the idea that I would, in time, build an army of each of the Nine loyal Legions split in to three groups.
Those who fought on Terr (WS, BA & IF) Those who bled on the black sands of Istvaan (IH, Sallies & RG) and those who were "otherwise engaged" (Ultras, SW & DA), but the IG proved to be much more fun than endless Marines.

3rd Ed came round and Blood Angels soon became a dirty word, sullen shapes lurked in dark corners muttering about "Rhino Rush" and they were just a whole lot of boring. SO I jumped ship. I took up the Imperial Fists. Nothing shows contempt for an enemy more than painting yourself the most visible colour possible. Rogal Dorn's slew of Quotations seeped into my mind and I was hooked.

However. I realised how hard it was to paint yellow so I've plodded through painting my Fists since then, I've got about a company of Marines (with extras) and only about a thrid of them have been painted, they're something I go back to from time to time.

So I'm stuck between BA's and IF's now, both for fluff reasons and before there was anything special about either.
Can't say Lysander isn't fun though. But I picked ppurely because of their background, they were both at the Emperor's side in those last hours.

[Dazza612]

Background and having a different army to eveyone else. I do raven guard as not many people use them and nobody in my local store at the time used them. Plus they have a very cool mysterious chapter and easy to get a raven guard army to table-top standard, but very hard to paint well so they don't just look black. Unfortunately the vanilla dex is not great for a raven guard army so I use the blood angels dex.

I'd select an army first and foremost that you like the look of and which suits your playstyle. If you want termie heavy you could use imperial fists, deathwing or iron hands. A fast moving army you have white scars (if you like bikes), raven guard or blood angels or ravenwing (although pretty pants at the moment). Nasty combat based armies you have blood angels and space wolves or ultramarines, salamanders and imperial fists for a mixture.

If you want something which is going to be a competitive army, puppies and blood angels are good, an all bike army using the vanilla dex works, or a lysander led army with lots of TH/SS termies backed up by mech marines or devs and preds also would work.

[Charistoph]

Where to begin...

I prefer to have my own paint style (that way I won't screw it up as badly), so my Marines are a DIY group.

I started off with Relic's Dawn of War and it's Army Painter and played with the colors numerous times. After a while I discovered the tabletop game, and Bolter and Chainsword's Marine Painter. Through those 2 I ran through numerous possibilities of colors, from riotous to plain.

I also researched the codecies and the armies represented in them. My favorite are the Black Templars. In many respects, they are just say, "Whateva" to what the enemy is trying to do and charge forward in their stylish tabards. While my Chaos Marines aren't Black Templar, they are stubborn sons of Dorn.

As for the color scheme, I wanted to have a scheme that matched my region. So their loyalist colors are Brown, with turquoise shoulders and silver trim. Now that they are Chaos, their armor has taken on a purplish hue (thanks to some Leviathan Wash and something that really can't be done on the Army Painters) and their shoulders are now a bright orange (mostly for want of a unique color scheme).

[GotrekFan]

My 1st SM army was wolves, but I got sick of painting grey before I finished my 1st squad.
When the last vanilla codex came out I jumped on the bandwagon and started my own chapter (quartered red and grey-white) that favoured aerial assaults and drop pods.
I then gave my guys a run out as BA successors for a change of pace and started winning a couple of games (without SC, ravens or cheese) the army just played better as BA.
Since then I'm BA all the way.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[AndrewGPaul]

And if you've chosen a Chapter, on wich base did you select it? Colours, cool Character model, ...?

Simple; Way back when I started, I asked my mum to go into GW and buy me a Terminator so I could paint it up. Instead, she got me this Space Wolves Captain:
http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs31/f/20...Blue_Lupus.jpg

Space Wolves it was!


Now, it's a bit trickier. The Imperial Armour Badab War books have me spoiled for choice. I'm currently considering painting up the Marines from the 3rd, 4th and 5th edition box games as the Chapters featured on the cover, which means I'll have an army of mostly Ultramarines with a Black Templars Tactical squad and Land Speeder. Throw in some Blood Angels Terminators courtesy of Space Hulk and it's all a bit of a mish-mash.

[Glenn87]

hmm. And for the guys who chose 1 chapter, when you field SC's, do you ONLY field your own chapter's, or do you field others?

For example, I play Red Scorpions, should I field a Vulkan list with them (having painted Vulkan in the right colour sheme and all), would you guys make a problem out of this?

[Spider-pope]

I chose my first chapter, Blood Angels, thanks to Codex Chaos in 2nd edition.

I'll explain. When i started the hobby, the first army i attempted was World Eaters - by attempt i mean three £5 boxes of Berzerkers, the third was free (ah the days when GW had sales!)- so i got the 2nd Edition Chaos Codex. And reading through it i really liked the background, one part in particular being the battle aboard Horus' battlebarge and Sanguinius sacrifice. That coupled with a nifty little photo of Blood Angels tackling Abaddon on Mackan made me actually want to collect the Imperial side instead.

So my next buy was Codex Angels of Death and a box of metal Death Company. Well, technically my next buy was Nagash but i try to block out how Gary Morley ruined my 12th birthday.

Since then i've bounced about between various chapters, mostly due to the abomination they were turned into in 3rd edition and are still recovering from, but i always end up back at Blood Angels.

As for your later question Glenn, the codex itself has a paragraph before the army list suggesting you do exactly that. So i wouldn't have a problem with it but i don't live in Belgium so it doesn't much matter what i think .

[Bunnahabhain]

Pick a colour scheme you like.
If the colours look very like a well known chapter, pick different symbols.
Pick a set of marine base models you like- Say you want DA robes, and BA single nozzle jump packs? Great!

Volia, you have your own custom chapter. It is immune from the ongoing Wardian heresy. You can field any special character you like, and convert the models for them, rather than buying expensive Finecast single models, and returning them until you get a good one. You have flexibility to field them using any codex you like. You can convert stuff to represent any codex special unit you like ( Thunder wolves riding a very big lion? Fine)
With magnets, you can keep your vehicles very flexible, so they can be fielded with any weapons fit, to fit your background, codex in use, list, etc, etc...

[Killgore]

I found I wanted an Imperial Fists army, the yellow looked awesome but could I paint it? Hell No.

In the end I’ve settled down with Black Templars, the paint scheme looks good and I can paint them well.

Going for your own custom chapter has many advantages that Bunnahabhain mentioned, you can swap and change codexs and use a great many models without having to resort to playing Apocalypse to use them (my poor Templars can only use their Whirlwind and Thunderfire cannon in these games as I'm not allowed them in my BT codex)

[Konovalev]

I played Ultramarines at the start of 3rd ed, because I wanted a marine force and I liked the blue. It's relatively bright and feels regal. Also at the time Ultramarine blue seemed to go easily on top of most colors making them easy to paint. Then the hate began. And it was hip and cool to hate on Ultramarines, so I enjoyed them even more. My models wear their chapter colors and markings proudly, and the look of disdain on my opponents face is a small victory in and of itself.

[Wyrmwood]

I started out with the Iron Hands; the complete flawed transhumananity of them, as well as a simple yet effective colour scheme, drew me in. After some time, I returned to the Space Marines with the Dark Angels. In a similar vein to the Iron Hands, something dark about them spoke to me; I found that they epitomised the darkness of Warhammer 40,000 while retaining a very strong personality. Short of belabouring the point, read some fluff and work out what you can add to it - make sure you like the colours, too!

I came close to started various other Space Marine armies at different times: Black Templars, Space Wolves, Astral Claws, Charcharodons, Executioners, White Scars, Exorcists and Grey Knights. A long list, to be sure but it leads into another point: accept that you'll find more than one chapter appealing - you could tackle in several ways. Hell, if your wallet supports it and you'd be happy with multiple armies - knock yourself out, but I think it's wiser to simply acknowledge that you may be tempted by one or more Chapters, but it's no reason to start up multiple armies of, essentially, the same Codex.

[Lothlanathorian]

I chose Blood Angels back at the tail end of 2nd because I liked their background. I've been into them ever since, but, have played several different armies and Chapters through the years. All of my Space Marine armies except one (when I played Wolves) have been my own home brew Chapter, this way I could field them as regular Marines when I wanted to or as Blood Angels (back before they had their own fancy special wargear and the only difference was Death Company/Black Rage and Red Thirst) depending on how I felt that day. So, my suggestion is either reading through the background and picking a Chapter based on that or come up with your own paint scheme you like.

[Charistoph]

I came close to started various other Space Marine armies at different times: Black Templars, Space Wolves, Astral Claws, Charcharodons, Executioners, White Scars, Exorcists and Grey Knights. A long list, to be sure but it leads into another point: accept that you'll find more than one chapter appealing - you could tackle in several ways. Hell, if your wallet supports it and you'd be happy with multiple armies - knock yourself out, but I think it's wiser to simply acknowledge that you may be tempted by one or more Chapters, but it's no reason to start up multiple armies of, essentially, the same Codex.

Which brings up another point, it is possible to paint your marines as most of those chapters (provided you have the paints for it) and still be legal. It's called a Crusade force. It's basically a group of Marines from several Chapters brought in for a fight. Just keep each squad consistent, and you should be good. If you want to play as Red Scorpions, have your main HQ/General be a Red Scorpion. If you want to run as Blood Angels, bring out an Angel as your leader. It can make your army fantastic to look at, and help you not get tired of one color all the time.

[Ebon]

When I decided to start a new SM army (already had Dark Angels and Black Templars), my considerations were whether I could do the paint job well, whether they had a cool concept. I also wanted a chapter that either had a transfer sheet or had a simple symbol because I hate having to do a complicated symbol on R&F models. So I went with Raven Guard. Cool colour scheme, nice concept, Shrike is a good model (well, I think it is) and it had a FW transfer sheet.

[Wyrmwood]

Which brings up another point, it is possible to paint your marines as most of those chapters (provided you have the paints for it) and still be legal. It's called a Crusade force. It's basically a group of Marines from several Chapters brought in for a fight. Just keep each squad consistent, and you should be good. If you want to play as Red Scorpions, have your main HQ/General be a Red Scorpion. If you want to run as Blood Angels, bring out an Angel as your leader. It can make your army fantastic to look at, and help you not get tired of one color all the time.

Very true, hence why I said it could be tackled in several ways: apart from starting a completely new army for each. Good form.

[Beppo1234]

Wolves(super cool in the early 90s), then ultras(blue is excessively easy to paint), then BAs then DAs (both had cool special characters when the 2nd Ed book came out)... then a crusading army with multiple factions, then I finally settled down on DAs, and have been with them since around '99.

[Beppo1234]

Which brings up another point, it is possible to paint your marines as most of those chapters (provided you have the paints for it) and still be legal. It's called a Crusade force. It's basically a group of Marines from several Chapters brought in for a fight. Just keep each squad consistent, and you should be good. If you want to play as Red Scorpions, have your main HQ/General be a Red Scorpion. If you want to run as Blood Angels, bring out an Angel as your leader. It can make your army fantastic to look at, and help you not get tired of one color all the time.

one used to be able to do this a long long time ago, but that was when all marine factions were pretty much identical.

[Charistoph]

one used to be able to do this a long long time ago, but that was when all marine factions were pretty much identical.

They still are, mostly. About 75+% of each marine codex (outside of Grey Knights and Chaos) can all be modelled the same, so you can use the same models across them all.

Though, I wouldn't use this approach with Space Wolves, people are still judgemental about these guys.

[Kevlar]

To quote Monty Python, "What is your favorite colour?"