Background Histories and Paint Schemes for my Space Marines

Some game systems lend themselves to letting the players make their own backgrounds and paint schemes. It was what drew me to tabletop gaming in the first place with Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40k line of models. Depending on what I bought and scrounge up used, it would drive the background I created for my armies. In other game systems, like Dystopian Wars or Warmachine, the background is standard while it is the paint scheme that can be unique. Looking through my old documents on 40k, I was reminded of the fun I had creating a history. Examples of this were the two Space Marine chapters I created, the “Translocation Rangers” and the “Antediluvian Crimson Order of the Emperor’s Machinations”.

The Translocation Rangers were thought up with the 4^th edition of the codex, because I liked bikes, scouts, terminators and land speeders but did not want Dark Angels because of their dark background. The idea of a lone group of space marines gathering intelligence on the universe and disseminating it to the Imperium sounded really cool. I thought a brown base with green shoulder and knee pads suited them and only got as far as some Tactical Marines and a bike being painted before I focused back on my Necrons (my first 40k army). That and the cheap paint I used looked horrible.

After the 5th edition codex came out, I looked at my four dreadnaughts and Techmarines and came up with the Crimson Order. With the Master of the Forge rule, I came up with a background of remnants of Space Marine chapters defending Mars and uncovering a heretical worshippers of the Dragon God, one of the four remaining C’Tan. After their victory over the heretics they were given chapter status and fight heretics and xenos throughout the Imperium. They believe that because the Emperor is sustained by machines then to be closer to the emperor they must also be sustained by them. Very similar to the Iron Hands but different, although the new 6+ invulnerability Chapter Tactics is a nice touch for warrior models in the 6^th edition of the codex. I envisioned my army being filled in the Elite and Heavy sections with five dreadnaughts, Master of the forge with servitors in a razorback, a Thunderfire launcher, and three squads of troops for around 2000 points. As seen in the picture, their color scheme would be dark reds with a cog on their shoulder pad as a symbol of their chapter. I made one model before I focused on more Orks.

As I dig out my Space Marines and begin to buckle down to make an Ultramarine army, I still fondly remember the armies that might have been. Why am I choosing Ultramarines? The consistency and recognisability of the Ultramarines appeal to one side of me. This does not mean that I should not make them unique, which I will do by individualizing each model in slight ways. Look to this blog for further posts as I assemble and paint them.