Seeing Pete building up a classic marine Crimson Fist army has given me some inspiration and excitement to paint up my remaining old “firstborn” marines as well. I figure they could participate in our campaigns, either against Tyranids or Traitor Guard, or if Pete feels like trying out Orks, or even as allies to the Fists.
The question is, which chapter to paint?
Criteria to Consider:
Painting: Fun to paint (somewhat efficient, easy-to-use colors, looks cool).
Modeling: Conversion ideas, unit types that I like to build, fits with the models and bits I already have.
Lore: Participated in classic 40k campaigns, especially Rynn’s World and Third War for Armageddon, that we would like to play.
Distinctiveness: Different colors from our existing armies. Unique look as a chapter.
Retro cool: Chapter highlighted in the old codices, rule books, and White Dwarf magazines of the 90s and 2000s. Color scheme reminiscent of this era.
I will assign each chapter a score of 1 - 5 in each category for a total score of 5 - 25.
Chapters Under Consideration:
Storm Lords
Painting: They look awesome, but painting looks challenging with the split scheme, especially trying to get a freehand straight line between two contrasting colors on vehicles. White is a challenge, but I’ve developed some decent techniques for it. Painting white over red (to fix mistakes) is not fun. Red is one of the most fun, striking, and beautiful colors Citadel makes. The yellow helmets look fun. I am just not sure I can do another white army.
Score: 2
Modeling: As a White Scars successor, I can use some existing bits. Interesting potential to work in thunderbolts and storm motifs. Chapter shoulder pads exist.
Score: 4
Lore: They are the only chapter that I’ve found that has documented lore of their participation in the War of the Beast, Rynn’s World, and the Third War for Armageddon. Also, a White Scars successor famous for fighting Orks.
Score: 5
Distinctiveness: Red and white have been common with Hydra Legion, White Scars, and Blood Angels. Yellow helmets and split scheme would help them pop.
Score: 2
Retro Cool: Halved paint scheme? Different color helmet? Definitely checks the boxes. They show up in Codex Armageddon, 4th Edition Codex, and 7th Edition Codex.
Score: 5
Total Score: 18
Mantis Warriors
Painting: Yellowish pale green seems reasonably easy to paint. Green is one of the nice colors you can highlight up and shade down or use Contrast paints. Yellow accent color would take a bit more work but adds a nice pop. They look fairly cool. Not as bold and dynamic as some chapter colors.
Score: 4
Modeling: As a White Scars successor, I can use some existing bits. An insect theme could result in some interesting modeling opportunities. They have a sort of Ninja vibe: individualistic, sneaky, ambushing, going on a quest to reclaim their lost honor, etc. That theme could open up some more ideas that we have not done yet. Old Rouge Trader art shows them wearing camo (gasp!). Chapter shoulder pads exist.
Score: 4
Lore: Not at Rynn’s World or Armageddon. Fought in Badab War, which is a pretty iconic campaign featured in Imperial Armor books 9 and 10 (authored by the immortal Alan Bligh just before the first Horus Heresy black book). They turned traitor during that war, which could setup some fun games with an excuse for marine vs marine action. Afterwards, redeemed through a 100-year crusade, which could bring them to Rynn's World (Badab War ended in 913 M41 while the Rynn's World invasion was in 988 M41 with the retaking of the planet in ~990-991 M41). White Scars successor via the Marauders. Not founded yet during War of the Beast.
Score: 3
Distinctiveness: We have no other armies using light green as army colors, although it is sort of close to Ork skin. No one using yellow as accent color so that should pop on the table.
Score: 4
Retro Cool: They are not in any of the old Codices, but they are in the Forge World Imperial Armor Badab War books, some of the pinnacle publications of the Warhammer hobby and released just before the game started to go off the rails in 6th Edition. Sadly, I don’t have those particular IA books (yet). They have been around since the Rogue Trader days, first appearing in White Dwarf in 1988.
Score: 3
Total Score: 18
White Scars
Painting: I have some recipes that are not too painful, but overall white is a challenge to paint and I’ve been painting it for years so I’m pretty tired of it. It would let me field Heresy units in 40k in order to have a bigger army faster. But if I want to paint more Scars, I can do so for Heresy. Fun factor drops the score to 2 at this point.
Score: 2
Modeling: I love the Scars motif and have loads of bits already. Even though most are Heresy, old armor and shoulder pads can be mixed in. Lots of bits are available. But I’ve been doing this theme for a long time and I would be replicating some stuff I’ve already done probably.
Score: 4
Lore: Fought at both Rynn’s World and Armageddon. Haven’t seen anything on the War of the Beast but given that it was a major conflict across the galaxy and the Scars existed at the time, they definitely would have fought in it.
Score: 5
Distinctniveness: Obviously not distinct from the Heresy army. Among the 40k armies, only the Tyranids have a lot of white. The semi-retired Hydra Legion has off-white. We have two other white Heresy armies with World Eaters and Death Guard.
Score: 2
Retro Cool: They appear in most of the major rule books, codices, and publications. Never as big a part of the lore as the Big Four: Ultras, Wolves, Dark Angels and Blood Angels, but in the next tier. Because their scheme continues to evolve with the new editions of the game, I would call it timeless rather than retro.
Score: 4
Total Score: 16
Blood Angels Successor: Angels Encarmine or Flesh Tearers
Painting: Red is very satisfying to paint and not super difficult. Black is not too bad if there isn’t too much of it; it just requires finicky, sharp edge highlighting. Red always looks great on the battlefield.
Score: 4
Modeling: I have Blood Angels metal special characters and metal Death Company that were gifted to me. I could use them with a successor. Tons of Blood Angel bits are available, but not much for these successors. Seems like either one would be very assault heavy, which are fun to model and different from my White Scars and Sons of Horus.
Score: 4
Lore: Angels Encarmine fought at Rynn’s World and Flesh Tearers at Armageddon.
Score: 4 for Encarmine and 3 for Tearers.
Distinctiveness: With Blood Angels already in our games, either of these chapters would look almost identical.
Score: 1
Retro Cool: They both show up in multiple old publications. Bold red with high contrast trim and Aquilas are very reminiscent of the old days.
Score: 4
Total score: 16
Hawk Lords
Painting: Purple looks interesting and seems like it should be similar to both blue and red, which are relatively forgiving colors to paint. Gold trim would not be hard. Yellow would take a bit more work. The whole marine being a single color makes things easier. But it would probably take some edge highlighting to make the purple pop, which is a pain. Painting a new color would be fun.
Score: 4
Modeling: I could use just about any bird or feather themed bits; there are plenty of those. Not much that I can find specific to Hawk Lords. An aerial themed force with lots of speeders and jump packs could look quite striking. The only chapter on this list that is not a White Scars successor.
Score: 3
Lore: They are reported to have fought in the War of the Beast. They are not listed as participants in either the Rynn’s World Campaign or Third War for Armageddon or any of the Imperial Armor books as far as I know.
Score: 1
Distinctiveness: We have no purple armies so far. These guys would stand out in any game and on any battlefield. However, they do look a lot like Heresy Emperor’s Children.
Score: 4
Retro Cool: Although included in a few old sources such as the 4th Edition Codex, they never really got much attention and didn’t show up in any of the classic battle reports or army photos that I remember. They seem to actually be a bigger part of the lore now than in the 3rd-4th edition days.
Score: 3
Score: 15
Sons of Jaghatai
Painting: As stated above, purple would be interesting and different. And I like the bone secondary color better than the gold/yellow of the Hawk Lords and it makes them more distinct from Heresy Thousand Sons. I bet I could use Contrast paints to paint them quickly and they would look decent.
Score: 5
Modeling: Another White Scars successor, I assume, even though it is not confirmed in the lore. They seem to have a bit of a Turkic theme so I would go that route rather than anything ninja or samurai themed. No shoulder pads or decals or bits that I know of. They appear to use back banners so that would be fun and retro.
Score: 3
Lore: Basically no official lore. They were created for a White Dwarf article on how to create your own Space Marine chapter.
Score: 1
Distinctiveness: We have no purple armies. Even if Pete eventually paints Heresy Thousand Sons, these guys would still be distinct, unlike The Hawk Lords.
Score: 5
Retro Cool: They show up only in White Dwarf 299 and How to Paint Space Marines, as far as I know. The scheme is reminiscent of their time, but they were never part of the old 40k artwork or campaigns.
Score: 2
Score: 16
Scoring Summary:
Storm Lords: 18
Mantis Warriors: 18
White Scars: 16
Angels Encarmine: 16
Sons of Jaghatai: 16
Hawk Lords: 15
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