Need help choosing a Space Marines chapter

[NuclearSnowyOwl]

Greetings lovely BOLS people. I need help choosing a chapter to play and collect. Here's how things currently stand:



I first started getting into 40k about 10 months ago, choosing Dark Angels as my chapter. However, I quickly learned that the DA codex is designed to be most effective running a bike army or a Terminator army, neither of which interests me. I have since sold off my army and am looking to start anew.



I love space marines. I'm certainly not interested in any other type of 40K faction, so let's not even bring that up.



With that in mind, here are my 5 biggest criteria for choosing a chapter:

-I don't want Space Wolves. I think the fur pelts are silly.

-I want a Chapter that excels at close combat.

-I don't want a chapter that needs lots of bikes to be successful.

-It can't be a Chapter that using pink or purple as its primary color.

-I would love to have a good variety of units so that I can play flexibly. I don't like massing a single type of unit (like Terms or bikes, a la Dark Angels)



I don't know enough about the various other chapters to have an idea of what I should collect. Last time I went purely on look, flavor, and fluff, and I was disappointed. I think I'll be happy with virtually any SM chapter as long as the models aren't wearing silly furs.



What should I go for?

[ElectricPaladin]

First of all, you need to decide which codex you are interested in. Although you can codex-leap to a limited degree - "today I'm using the Space Marines Codex, tomorrow Blood Angels, and after that... I dunno!" - you probably want to keep a specific codex in mind, especially as you are only starting out and don't want to confuse yourself.

It also sounds to me - and tell me if I'm wrong here - that you are interested in being at least a little bit fluffy here. You don't want to cherry pick the best from this codex and that codex and Ally them together to create a broken army. You want a codex you can call your own and a single unifying background for your army. That makes your life a lot simpler.

The current loyalist Space Marine codices are:

• Space Marines Codex: This book can be used to represent every Space Marine chapter that isn't mentioned elswhere. These rules are generally very versatile - you can play bike armies, foot armies, or invest heavily (though not exclusively) in other marine variants, like jump infantry or terminators. This is primarily a shooting army, though it's decent Initiative score and good durability mean that they can survive close combat, and they have some units that excel at it. If you like the idea of playing the mid-range firefight game with tough models and lots of tactical versatility, this is the army book for you. If you're interested in perusing the Chapter Tactics options for obscure and ill-known check out the [URL="http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Downloads/Product/PDF/F/FWchaptertactics.pdf"]Forgeworld Chapter Tactics document[/URL]. These chapters will all play, basically, like Space Marines, but some of them have cool color schemes, particularly interesting fluff, and neat Chapter Tactics rules that help to represent them on the tabletop.

• Blood Angels Codex: These guys are all about speed and aggression. They can be an all jump army - or all assault marines on foot, if that's your thing - and all their rhino-chassis vehicles (that's all ground vehicles except land raiders) are Fast. They have some interesting options to enhance the survivability and assault strength of their troops - basically, you can take both chaplains and apothecaries as Independent Characters to attach them to squads, also our apothecaries grant Furious Charge as well as Feel No Pain - and we have some unique units who are brutal in close combat. Overall, however, the Blood Angels codex suffers from being really old. That, plus the changes to assault in 6th Edition, make it very hard to play the army in ways that emphasize its uniqueness - but I've managed it once or twice.

• Dark Angels and Space Wolves: You've already dismissed these guys, so whatever. I don't like 'em much myself.

Honestly, from what you say, I think you'd enjoy the Blood Angels codex. You might need to wait a while for them to get a new book before you're really happy with them, but an army is a long-term investment, so that's ok. They've been struggling for even longer than I've been playing them, and I enjoy them just fine.

Then there's the matter of which chapter exactly you are playing. You can paint up your dudes however you like. The Blood Angels, for example, really like to be red, but there are successors that are darker red, brighter red, and one that's yellow. You can use the Blood Angels codex to represent a different chapter that happens to like fast vehicles and close combat... and have problems with blood thirst... and has squads of berserkers... and, yeah, it breaks down if you push on it too hard, but the option is still technically open.

Check out [URL="http://www.lexicanum.com/"]Lexicanum[/URL] and [URL="http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Warhammer_40k_Wiki"]40kWiki[/URL] for details and lore.

[Mr.Pickelz]

Black Templars or Blood Angels is what I think would fit your criteria.

[DWest]

Give a look to Black Templars-- they're Codex Marines, so they have access to all the kit in the book, excepting Librarians, and their unique Troop choice can amass 15 models with Bolt Pistol + CCW, and take a Land Raider Crusader to ride in. Their Chapter Master and named Chaplain also give out nice buffs to nearby assault units.

[ElectricPaladin]

I hadn't thought about Templars. Yeah, you might like them too.

[Joe Fixit]

What about Grey Knights ?

[NuclearSnowyOwl]

Hey guys, thanks for the help, this is a ton of great info!

So what happened to the Black Templars codex? Did it get absorbed into the Space Marines codex?

I would like to focus on one codex, at least for now. One is plenty! If the Space Marines codex has more variety, that's probably what I'll purchase. I have a little bit of a hard time getting something like the Blood Angels codex and then playing an army that isn't Blood Angels. That doesn't seem to be an issue for most people, but I would like the characters in the codex, the art, the fluff, everything, to match up with what I have on the table.

Thanks for the link to the Forgeworld Chapter Tactics doc. I didn't know about that

[ElectricPaladin]

Hey guys, thanks for the help, this is a ton of great info!

So what happened to the Black Templars codex? Did it get absorbed into the Space Marines codex?

I would like to focus on one codex, at least for now. One is plenty! If the Space Marines codex has more variety, that's probably what I'll purchase. I have a little bit of a hard time getting something like the Blood Angels codex and then playing an army that isn't Blood Angels. That doesn't seem to be an issue for most people, but I would like the characters in the codex, the art, the fluff, everything, to match up with what I have on the table.

Thanks for the link to the Forgeworld Chapter Tactics doc. I didn't know about that

One thing to remember is that the Blood Angels codex is intended to represent Blood Angels successors as well, though that leaves you out of the special characters game (if you're being finicky, the book is entirely appropriate for successors, but all the named characters are Blood Angels).

To answer your question - yes, the Black Templars used to be their own codex, but were recently folded into the Space Marines codex.

You're welcome!

[Houghten]

(if you're being finicky, the book is entirely appropriate for successors, but all the named characters are Blood Angels).

Except Gabriel Seth of course.

Plus I think the Sanguinor shows up to help out successor chapters too, after all their blood is the blood of Sanguinius just as much as that encased in red armour...

[Gwhizz84]

I use the BA special characters in my successor army and just rename them, nothing says you cant have similar warriors in different chapters.