YOUR GUYS - Six tips for creating unique Horus Heresy armies!

[@thebloodyfox3763]

I did a customs scheme for my Imperial fists, the 226th company who became known as “The Blackhands”. Their captain in a battle broke from 7th legion doctrine and while victory was achieved it was not without cost. During the battle an enemy weapon scorched the left side of his armor rendering the armor on his left arm black. When he faced judgement he was censored and told to leave his arm black as his marking of censor. Out of solidarity with their commander the entire company painted their left arm black as well.

[@returnofthetwats190]

that's actually pretty cool

[@ironbomb6753]

Dude, that's a great backstory. 👍

[@androsthebloodthirsty8709]

Now this is based

[@nateschulhofer5083]

So I've been mulling around the idea of a Night Lords company dedicated to "infrastructure reduction" (based off one of the chapters referenced in the Word Bearers section). I don't have a company number yet, but the name "Tower of Splintered Bone" feels really thematic and cool. They'd be focused on pure destruction of building, cities, or whatever else when something needed to be brought into compliance. Lots of heavy weapons, vulkite, and possibly tanks. What do you guys think?

[@ArbitorIan]

That's EXACTLY the idea I'm talking about. Totally obvious thing the Night Lords would need, but nobody ever does an artillery company. Love it.

[@nateschulhofer5083]

@@ArbitorIan Don't suppose our High Lord of Heresy Knowledge has any suggestion on a way to make them look a little different. I've been building up a steady supply of extra armor bits to slap on all over them (plates, armored tabbards, various beefed up shoulder pads, etc). But maybe a different color?

[@eugenekellyiii1957]

Using GW's skulls kit and maybe some AOS Death Alliance bits could help to make their appearance fit their name.

[@zackcook5123]

Heck yeah man each legion needed that. That would fit in fantastically with the night lords style of warfare. If it was me I'd be tempted to add a vindicator squadron. They are well suited to the task of fighting in cities. Heavy weapons are a heck yeah bolters, heavy flamers, missile launchers would all be awesome, as you say volkite because who doesn't like guns that go choom Heck recon squads might work well for destroying the command structure. Maybe assault marines and terror squads to move through the dense urban environment? Or chainfist terminators for cracking hard defenses and breaching. Speaking of breachers could work.

[@IKMojito]

@@nateschulhofer5083 I think really going hard on giving them all pouches, gear, ammunition, etc really would give the infantry the aesthetic of leveling cities and having the ammunition to do it

[@Nekorook]

Having veterans painted as crusader colors does sound neat. Thank you for the idea!

[@grimjack9139]

The Blackshields lore inspired me to take a look again at the HH. Making your own empire run by rogue Marines is totally up my alley and with better rules than CSM got in 40k, this might just be my jump into HH!

[@xanderlee51]

I've been researching the Black Shields, and if I end up picking up the new box, I'll probably paint them as blackshields. I hope we see support for them, as they're not necessarily Loyalists or Traitors.

[@davidchristie1200]

SAMMMMEEEEEE, put a hold on my Blackshields until we know more.

[@GaryKeenan]

Well if your not loyal?…

[@sovietorca810]

Didn't GW state all the rules from the Black Books would be carried over to HH 2.0? If so, we're good, since Blackshields got unique rules in Book 6

[@olivermatthews8110]

@@sovietorca810 first I've heard that said. Word from the leaks is they aren't in anything day 1, so if we get them, it will be either in a later book (I expect post the other factions) or (my guess) a WD article

[@livanbard]

the point of them is not researching by making them up.

[@friedrichschadow]

After a 12 year Break you are about to bring me back into the Hobby. Such a Good Channel!

[@marcwittkowski5146]

Right? Absolutely love it.

[@kappa6109]

He's got me on a Alpha Legion bender.

[@Metal_Maoist]

I have an idea for a unique Emperor‘s Children company, the Rubicund Dexter. They are infamous for the swift and bloody end they brought to the siege of Azathoth station, and to honor the Word Bearers whom they fought alongside in that battle, they use silver ornamentation instead of gold and paint their right gauntlets a dark red colour.

[@rohanhodson9]

I have a blood angel company that were always a little reluctant to move away from their Ravager ways, when Signus happened they all lost it and the red thirst took over completely, even afterwards they all remained right on the edge of the thirst at all times with a very high rate of legionnaires succumbing to it altogether. Naturally, they searched high and low for a cure and found it in ritual blood drinking. The company went on to form the Blood Drinkers in the 2nd founding

[@TheOneTheyCallJack]

I’m currently working on a Warsmith conversion, the basis is the new Black Templars Castellan, a couple of Mk3 bits and I’ve used one of the servo arm backpacks from the havocs kit. He’s a bit beefier than even the Cataphractii but still fits the brutal siege vibe of the Iron Warriors

[@LordGrantius]

While this video is somewhat older, it's worth revisiting, and I'd like to add some takes. First off, consult the lore - novels and source books - for inspiration. After reading Echoes of Eternity and Forge Worlds Horus Heresy Book 8: Malevolence, I started a Blood Angels army based around the First Sphere. The entire army is Crimson Paladins, Angel's Tears, Sanguinary Guard and Ofanim Court, led by Zephon as Exarch of the High Host, a Praetor or Champion to stand in as Azkaellon, and Sanguinius. I took some liberties - since we know Sanguinary Guard are gold, Angel's Tears are red with silver helmets, Ofanim are mostly red with black helmets and arms, I decided to give my Crimson Paladins white helmets. This also led to some standardization across my other Blood Angels armies, as I adopted black shoulder pads as a sign of veterans, and gold trim to denote those above Third Sphere - so the entire First Sphere Host, as well as the characters in my other forces, got black shoulder pads and gold trim, while my Dawnbreakers just got black shoulder pads. When I first read Know No Fear, I was inspired and turned the majority of my marines into Ultramarines. I now have many more armies and marines, but the release of the Exemplary Battles provided me the opportunity to convert some of the Sternguard (special bolters) into Nemesis Destroyers. Now, I'm working towards one of my Ultramarines armies being a detachment of the 22nd Chapter Nemesis. I do however disagree with the argument that Heresy is not a historical game. Obviously, since it's not real, it's not truly historical. I do think the people most committed to the game tend to be knowledgeable on the lore and have a desire for continuing the narrative. None of this is to say that you can't paint what you want or have to play only certain opponents, but I do find the experience is richer when you put some of that effort into it. Again, I do not wish to gate keep, my main opponent is Imperial Fists regardless what legion I play. I simply feel that creating and telling a story on the battlefield is an experience that I champion

[@Ophidia_Lore]

I have always loved the look of death guard and their ethos, but I really never liked Mortarion much. I wanted to stick to basically ONLY Mk3, cataphractii, and dreads with some minor support stuff, but they all have their right hand still painted red, in defiance of Mortarion's ruling to do away with the old. Super weathered painting with enamels and keep the bas colors simple other than that flash of deep red

[@justinhhp87]

a fellow dusk raider eh?

[@Reilly-Maresca]

Would you run them as loyalists or as traitors who are just defiant to the Primarch

[@justinhhp87]

@@Reilly-Marescaloyalist Terran born

[@Ophidia_Lore]

@@Reilly-Maresca prob the later in the new system i think

[@noahdoyle6780]

"There's a huge variation beyond what GW sells." This needs to be written in fire, 10 meters tall, for evwry fan to see.

[@TheAlterspark]

Great video, my Imperial Fists company is going for a slight different alteration with the right shoulder pads being painted dark blue with 3 star bursts to represent that they were recruited from void nomads brought into compliance during the crusade. You can take liberties with your "chapters" so long as you don't go off the deep end.

[@someirishguy1662]

Ive had the idea of mulling off of 40k lore after it. Cato Sicarius, meme as he is, is described as a "Knight of Talassar" constantly. Ive had this concept for a theme in the Ultramarines Legion, all Marines hailing from Talassars Noble houses, members of a knightly lodge, a simple Trident shield heraldry being their sigil, riffing on the more noble and martial side of the Ultras, and perhaps the marines in said company admiring the Dark Angels methods of Orders in the Legion. Wanted the force to look like a snapshot from Nuceria battling the World Eaters!

[@NathanLukeWallace]

LOVE your Brotherhood of the Void idea - and the Late Heresy Emperor's Children. Will still totally show my love to the Black Templars when I get my hands on the Heresy box, and paint up some Imperial Fists (now to learn to paint yellow better...) - but I totally get your thoughts on this topic. Great video mate!

[@marcwittkowski5146]

It might sound weird, but try undercoating the yellow areas with pink. You can thank me later.

[@_lewtz]

@@marcwittkowski5146 This guy knows the magic sauce for yellow.

[@Tomoyuki_Tanaka]

We have Templar Brethren in the Heresy, so painting Imperial Fists mostly black with splashes of yellow is also a great idea, especially if you want to do some precursor company to the Black Templars!

[@TheAlbumsThatMadeMe]

I've gotten back into the hobby after a long time away, wife got me the latest Horus Heresy box, painting Loyalist Death Guard. Loving it so far!

[@CM26617]

Well done to Arbitor for an insightful vid, but I suspect there's a seventh option that - with the full release of both Libers now - might have been only covered in passing, or falls outside of sole-faction armies: composition of Detachments and Alliances. Basically - much like mainline 40K - the Legions and their allies fall on the Loyalist/Traitor divide, depending on which primarch declared for the Emperor or the Warmaster. Some factions - like the Mechanicum and Imperial Army - fought on both sides, while some - Daemons or the Custodes/Sisters of Silence - fought purely for one side or the other. This ALSO extends to the Legions and their units; unless you take a unit, character or trait that expressly has 'loyalist' or 'traitor' in its byline, then they could be taken by either side. For example, I intend to form a Legio Dark Angels army as my Primary detachment, focusing on the Deathwing (The Unbroken Vow rite). As my Secondary Detachment will aim to be formed by Loyalist Iron Warriors, I cannot take, say Perturabo or any Rite or Unit with the Traitor sub-type, but I can - when they get released - apply 'Legio Neutral' traits or units or any Iron Warrior-specific of the same with a Loyalist byline. Just some food for thought.

[@Marco48375]

Option 7: go nuts with basing. Greating a unique army can come from the basing as well. Swamp, lava, skulls, autumn, snow, it all adds to differentiate.

[@Isdezenaambezet]

Been collecting blackshields for precisely this reason. I love converting and blackshields just lend themselves best for it in heresy i feel.

[@angelicdespot2735]

All the legions had scouts who could be seen in camouflage... well, hopefully they wouldn't be seen, but point taken! Great video.

[@l7537]

I like the idea of a Deathwing heresy army, with bone white parts of armor all over

[@hydrocone7325]

Now who would try replicate the Badab Salamanders scheme? Preposterous! *looks at new beakies* 👀... Well maybe just a squad...

[@VorpalDerringer]

Absolutely. I wanted to paint some Heresy era Blood Angels after reading Fear to Tread and getting some Mark III marines...and was told there WAS no one "Blood Angels scheme"--it all depended on what company you were painting! Gold trim, brass trim, black trim, scarlet, crimson...it all depends on what you want to use.

[@marcwittkowski5146]

Yeah, much more freedom than in 40k. Well, provided you don't want to play a successor chapter. But even then, 30k has more variety overall I'd say.

[@CyberSammael]

Thank you! This is EXACTLY what I need. I am jumping into HH with second edition and wanted to go with the Iron Warriors, as I want to include robots and siege vehicles. But the thought of loads of standard Marines, drybrushed silver only doesnt really make me enthusiastic. After watching this, I think I will create a company that has been bogged down in a campaign for decades, and have added ablative armour for better protection from the enemy shells and mortars, and I can then have some fun with plasticard and even fantasy knight bits.....

[@Haanzer]

Great video! Super useful information and does a great job of debunking the idea that Heresy is totally rigid and inflexible without being disrespectful to the fluff and setting.

[@NoMercy40k]

I gotta say: I only recently discovered your channel, but you and your videos have been such a massive inspiration for me getting my love for the hobby back. Thank you!

[@kevlonk]

I am so glad about the shout out you gave to the Fighting Tigers of Veda at the beginning.

[@marcwittkowski5146]

I love the fact that AL have so many different colour schemes. Came up with my own, non-metallic one. Basecolour is a teal, glazing rich purple into the shadows and green/turquoise into the brighter areas. I'll add a bunch of freehanded scales, chains and hydras all over and paint their pauldrons, some beaks and some fingers black, highlighting up to a dark teal. Metals will be mostly bright silver with a bit of bronze here and there. I'll start with a heavily converted and individualised squad of 10 which won't conform to the rules but will just be a passion project. I'll see where I'll take it from there.

[@PexDoombringer]

Woah I was struggling to think about ways to personalize my army now that I want to dive into Horus Heresy 2.0, and this video has really hit the spot. Ye have a new sub brother, keep on the great work!

[@williamamely7038]

Your army looks great, Ian. Thanks for sharing this video with us. I have always wanted to paint my Heresy army as the missing Legions, with the 2nd using the thousand Sons rules, while the 11th uses the Raven Guard or World Eater rules.

[@notnubilous3804]

I'm currently painting my Sallys in their post unification camo of yellow with the black lines, in that Legions were literally picking up and dusting off ancient technology so quickly in order to resupply and ship back out that they never bothered to change their armor colors.

[@fransaacs]

Order of the Courageous Heart; I made a company veteran squad of Lamenters a while ago using a combination of plastic heresy and older tactical kits, consciously avoiding any Aquila or Crux Terminatus iconography. I always thought they would fit right into a 30K setting quite neatly as some kind of elite unit. Your video has given me renewed pause for thought. Cheers!

[@ArbitorIan]

I just saw the IG image - they look great!

[@davetaylor9966]

An excellent video! While a lot of us are always ready to jump in and switch things around, it's important to remind everyone that it's perfectly ok to do so :)

[@Phoolery]

I’ve started a Night Lords with Sons of Horus Ally force, and my Night Lords company, the 99th, are a bunch of late recruited gang filth. The last batch from Nostromo before it was destroyed. As such they were greatly hated by Kurz, and the feeling with the 99th’s Officer corps was mutual. So at first chance they buggered off when he wasn’t looking. They still wear the midnight blue, but they embrace the gang cultures they once belonged to. Resulting is in some different detail colorings on pauldron as and such. Hell, even the Company Captain rebirthed his old gang in the ranks of his officers.

[@Mugdorna]

Love the dreadnought cameo at the end. That's a serious bit of nostalgia.

[@mark2sisters55]

I was going to start with 2 legions, one each for loyalist and traitor, but after deciding I want to kitbash a Legion of the Damned force for loyalists the most appropriate rules look to be Alpharius led Alpha Legion ( I converted a master of possesion to represent him ). It will probably get an Salamanders allied detachment to add to the flaming theme. The traitor legion is going to be later Emperor's Children with skintone pink as well as the metallic purple.

[@MrProjectXIII]

I've been working on scouring era Sons of Horus. Mostly heresy plastics with new chaos legs as a base and then dragging anything and everything from the bits box. Might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I like it.

[@musicalDrebin]

Dude this video was awesome! i've only just gotten into painting the models and i love the horus heresy novels. as much as i love the schemes i was worried about it getting old now i know not to worry about that. this was a big help, and now i've got a lot of ideas. thanks man

[@Turpin_Paints]

Great video, I've been pondering this recently for my own White Scars! Your Brotherhood of the Void concept is fantastic from a fluff perspective but also a great way of using the troops from the new box set. I think I might go and look at WS successors and see if any take my fancy.

[@rosspalmer5171]

Having never really given nurgle much thought, I really got into modelling Death Guard with the 8th ed boxes ( I now have approx 3k points of DG complete, and a non-DG nurgle warband in progress), and I've really liked the crusade -era Dusk Raiders colour scheme since I first saw it, so I think a variation of that will be the way I'll go, when I can afford to get into HH.

[@Tboysupreme]

Great vid thank you. I always like creating my own custom army with background, characters and the whole shebang. The Heresy seemed rather limited for that but you did provide good options for it.

[@paulellington1505]

I love the customization options in 40K. Great video for a beginner like me. I appreciate you clearing up some things that I was not sure about.

[@MrMaxamumdes]

My favorite example for customization is the Serrated Sun's, aka Argel Tals company. Sure Word Bearers had gray and gold I believe as the colour scheme, but the Serrated Sun's had the trademark crimson and silver that would eventually spread too the entire legion!

[@TeHistoryNZ]

I've been playing around with the idea of how to incorporate the Native American themed elements of the OG Dark Angels back in the day into a more modern force, so I've settled on a pair of companies that served in the Rangdan Xenocides alongside the Space Wolves and Luna Wolves. Most of their recruitment came from a series of Tribal Worlds and with the ferocity of the fighting coupled with the infuence of their fellow legions they fell back on their traditional honorifics and ceremonies. One company is a massed infantry of the stormwing with a core of 20 man tac squads and tac support squads with Iroquois markings and decoration on their armour, and the other a Ravenwing section of jetbikes and speeders with Sioux inspired markings. The marks are in various Red, White, Bone, Yellow and Green colours on both the faces and armour of the marines, resembling the warpaint and textiles of the tribes. Hopefully this adds that extra colour and vibrance that I think can sometimes be lacking from the Dark Angels. I'm sticking away from any feathers or those sorts of additions aside from maybe the wings on the back of the jetbikes like in 40k. Any thoughts or ideas?

[@maddogmadden23]

Jetbikes and perhaps some assault marines with some power axes?

[@raymondwright5996]

I plan on using Indominus Pattern Terminator Armor for my Dark Angels so I can use the 40K Terminator kit that has a lot of the heraldry on it. I’m going to put Aggressor shoulder pads to het rid of the Crux Terminatus.

[@marcwittkowski5146]

Remember not to use any broken sword heraldry or fix the sword first. That's a post-heresy bit of heraldry.

[@raymondwright5996]

Interesting. A little putty should fix the broken swords. Or I can justify it that they got thrown back in time after getting caught in a warp storm.

[@Gerendiell]

@@raymondwright5996 You could and technically it is not wrong, but it would be frowned upon as it always has the taste of a lazy excuse.

[@ReverendPONT]

I've been toying with doing a Destroyer Ultramarines army. I think this video has pretty much cemented that as I already got a decent of UM bits on hand to make it different than all MKVI Marines. I dig that paint scheme and the idea of using rad weapons.

[@johnnybigbones4955]

This was a cool video. I'm not into Heresy other than the novels for the most part (too many marines, not enough Xenos) but your videos are gradually winning me over to the hobby side of it. GW should be paying you commission :D

[@eugenekellyiii1957]

Rules might end up being made for Orks and Eldar, since both were around then.

[@marcwittkowski5146]

@@eugenekellyiii1957 that would be amazing. Is this just something you'd like to see or are there actual leaks or substantial rumours?

[@eugenekellyiii1957]

@@marcwittkowski5146 Just something I'd like to see. I haven't heard anything substantial yet.

[@IKMojito]

Xenos were playable in the last edition of heresy, I think it would only make sense we'd get a really simple set of army lists

[@kyletoelle]

I was thinking about a essentially "penal company " of night lords who's hands are all sinners red to be called the death marked. They'd essentially be used as frontline troops usually given to other legions, in this case the iron warriors to be used as first wave troops destined to die. Having to use a lot of mixes armour due to their damned existence as no one wants to resupply dead men, they'd look more hodgepodge than normal night lords

[@Bluecho4]

Which is saying something, given how Night Lords would come to operate largely as scavengers by the 41st millennium.

[@Droids945]

You have got me all sorts of excited to make my heresy marines. I have been sat here for the past three days starting to wonder if I should actually play an existing legion (my 40k chapter is custom) So with seeing this, It has given me wonderful ideas as to what I can do, even within the pre-existing chapters. Thank you.

[@chrisseas6725]

I really enjoyed this video, I genuinely thought there wasn't much wiggle room in HH and more content like this that shows variety is what I'm out for !

[@kublai2222]

Great video. Your content is really enjoyable! Keep up your amazing work!

[@stefan-georgfuchs9618]

for my re-entry into HH and LI, this vid was a great refreshener ! Btw : I really like your channel but somehow I had never subbed. Now I did ! Great work.

[@soupordave]

I've been a fan of Warhammer for a while through books and video games and have always chickened out on diving into the Hobby side of it. But I'm starting to get the urge to buy the new Heresy box so I can do a Loyalist Company of one of the Traitor Legions (or vis versa).

[@richardbradley2335]

You made the HH interesting to me for the first time since 86'

[@phobosinferno]

Great video and very helpful for people who want to add a little homebrew to their Horus Heresy armies.

[@MalumZeth]

Could I have heresy Mantis Warriors and say they were a White Scars pioneer company attached to the Salamanders / Dragon Warriors?

[@assembly_language3948]

When I got into the hobby in 1990, my first miniatures were the old Beakie box. All I had to go on was what I had on the cover of the box, Crimson Fists. At the time, I used whatever paint I could get, cheap craft acrylic. I didn't know I had to wash the sprues, or even prime, let alone seal, as I was used to using testors enamels. My painted Marines never survived to their first game... The paint just fell off in large flakes, with the barest of touching. They did get repainted as ultramarines, and then later as a DIY chapter, but those Crimson Fists have never returned... And then they are releasing new Mk VI armor models, and well. I'll be painting my new army Crimson Fists. If I ever get to play HH, I'll run them as Imperial Fists. I am really looking forward to breathing new life into my very first army again. Captain Tenniel, and his company of Crimson Fists.

[@steezykguyt683]

Great video! For my HH force I’ve been working on the 47th company of the Night Lords. Originally a mechanized company it suffered many losses during the Thramas crusade and so was forced to absorb units from other depleted companies to maintain fighting strength. What I hope this cobbling together of different units allows for me to maintain that core of veteran armored vehicles as well as have the ability field a variety of other specialized units that weren’t part of the company originally. Still need to decide on a name, but thanks for the inspiration!

[@julianwarren7770]

Is that a Space Crusade dreadnought in your Word Bearers army???

[@eztac433]

I've definitely toyed with the idea of doing a 'Dusk Raiders' force of loyalist Death Guard, who were so far out on campaign that they never met Mortarion, therefore never felt the resentment towards The Emperor, and as a result never falling to chaos. Although I feel that it wouldn't make sense for them to be running around in the MKVI from the boxset. I could justify it as upon them returning from the campaign and declaring for the Loyalists, they were gifted/bought up to strength using the MKVI armour, and then have my veterans in the MKIII and MKIV, what do you think Ian?

[@ArbitorIan]

I like it. Also, there's nothing stopping a loyalist aligned forge world producing mkiv out on the fringes somewhere, once the plans are out there. Maybe that's where these guys got theirs from?

[@DerBomster]

Yeah, this isn’t historical wargaming, but on the other hand - there is some fun to be had with trying to be as „historical“ as possible, even in a fantastic scenario. i recently painted up a historical army and had great fun researching Hospitaller Knight liveries by decade - and I can see doing that with a heresy army, because the background in the FW „black books“ is surprisingly deep. The key is not being dogmatic about it, but creative , and your video pretty much demonstrates the perfect mindset for this, because you show how very individual designs can happily fit into the known lore.

[@Md-4c]

I was thinking of doing my thousand sons in mostly bone, with gold and red metallic highlights. After seeing the artwork of what was basically my idea for the colour scheme, I'm now pretty tempted to do it

[@petros9711]

IAN! Noticed you mentioned Warzone in this episode… HUGE Warzone/MC fan here, as well as HH and 40K. And of course your channel. :) I would LOVE to see some content about Warzone one day! If you haven’t seen about it already be sure to search up for some info on Warzone Eternal set to launch next year!

[@ThomasGallinari]

I love the lore of HH but I was reluctant to play the game as I thought there was less room for creativity than in 40K. Now you got me convinced, I may join the hype ;)

[@UntiltedName]

Man this was so helpful to see, and inspirational with regards to army design. The 30k reddit is way too, stuck in a box about this topic. Honestly I'm looking for an excuse to use some winter camo patterns/masks that I've used on historical tanks in the past. My plan is to wait another few months to see what kits are coming in plastic, and see how the local community takes to the game system. Right now we're all hyped on AoS.

[@ArbitorIan]

MAYBE I SHOULD POST THIS THERE!????!!!

[@keios]

One idea I've been thinking of, but will probably be sat on the back burner until I have more cash available, is an Iron Hands army, where they only have matching shoulders and left hands. Other than that, they're wearing mixed armour marks and colours. The backstory being that they're Istvaan V survivors, wearing the armour they had to scavenge together to survive the Drop Site Massacre and keeping it as a warning o their enemies that they've withstood the worst the traitors could throw at them and survived.

[@matthewdavies986]

The main reason I love guard so much, as every planet is going to have some kind of military, each with different uniforms, weapons, vehicles and tactics, leaving basically endless scope for unique armies, in both 40k and heresy

[@Le_Petomane]

I was thinking about a Squadron of unarmored space-marines. Like they have just been caught off guard in the shower or barracks and quickly rushed to join the fight so are essentially naked maybe covered in soap suds and armed with only the first think they could grab like a lamp or belt. Is this cannon friendly? Also can Space Marines be gay not that it matters but it would be some cool fluff? Also do Space Marines have hairy chests?

[@ArbitorIan]

Yes. Yes to all questions.

[@hansyolo8277]

right now my plan is to play Imperial Fists, starting with the big box set, even though I dont really want MK 6 for my Fists. My plan to solve that is to get plastic card and add extra panels to make the armor more beefy and less sleek, as well as using helms and (at least the right) shoulder pad from probably MK3 upgrade bits. If it wouldn't almost double the cost, I'd get the true-scale armor (torso and legs) from Tortuga, but that's a bit pricy.

[@iammattc1]

Something a lot of people seem to forget is that the minis they buy are THEIR minis. If you want to paint your ultramarines yellow, you can. They're YOUR minis. Paint them however you like.

[@hate2191]

Yeah, just dont expect for someone to want to pick up a game with you. Do what ever you like, but if you want to respect the people who lug kgs of resin across the country, know what standards are expected. And if you find a group that lets you run anything from Darth vader to Barbie as a praetor, thats awesome, enjoy. We can all enjoy plastic and whatever other material you wanna use with the groups we find and forge, and you can always make a second army that fits with the standard of another group too.

[@Goblinhandler]

Just don’t expect anyone to play with you lol Id your space marines are yellow, you’re either playing imperial fists or I’m not playing with you

[@trent7258]

If your absolutely worried about colors too then just put a chapters symbol on there. If I remember a lot are white or black so they should stick out on any kinda color

[@LysimedVenteel]

Even though that idea makes lore purists like me feel genuine physical pain, you’re absolutely right. They’re your models. You can do whatever with them.

[@88porpoise]

As with most things, context is king. Many local groups are there primarily to play the game and don't care what your miniatures are painted as (or, maybe, if they are painted at all) so long as you are clear what they are. Other groups are much more into the story telling and lore or just want to play cool looking armies. Those groups will require more effort into the aesthetics for you to be accepted and not harm their enjoyment.

[@Capt.DanInJapan]

For me, the golden rule is have fun but not at the expense of other people. I enjoy the pseudo-historical aspect of the Heresy. However, a few good friends of mine are exploring other aspects of the Heresy. One of them is working on a splinter faction of the Iron Hands and has leaned into their alliances with the Mechanicum to recoup their losses after Istvaan V, unaware of the civil war on Mars. The "Knights of Mars" are the result. Another friend has done an Ultramarine chapter, codenamed "Rainbow Warriors". It was a way for him to use his Rogue Trader 40k project as the basis of his 30k one. And the best thing is that it all fits. It all fits. I think that the only real red line I have is Primaris gear in the Heresy. Even then, I recognize that there could be a fluffy and plausible reason for Primaris Marines turning up in the Heresy.

[@mitchellgillies3439]

The limitation is what draws me to 30k - it's essentially setting yourself a design brief and finding out what interesting stuff you can do within a set idea.

[@kappa6109]

I'm using a unknown chapter design of Angels Redeemed for dark angels. It ties in to Arbiters ideas.

[@Calzaroque]

Your videos are always excellent, as an obscure sub-faction fan I must say I had to pick my Jaw off the floor when you mentioned the Marauders (also the art for the alternate MK VI color scheme!) and The Purge back to back!

[@sinisterpuddle6655]

The Emperor’s children often take the weapons of fallen opponents as trophies after a deul. what do you think about Palatine blades armed with power swords taken from other units? i was thinking one with a templar cross hilt, one with the blood angels winged hilt, a scimitar from the white scars, maybe an eldar blade since they fought the eldar before the start of the heresy. What do you think?

[@swagismund]

It sounds badass, lore friendly and original go for it

[@Wanten-the-stormtrooper]

Great video! I'm planning on doing Emperor's Children, so the colour scheme part was especially useful! The recent addition of the Sunkiller heavy weapons squads in v. 1.0 a while back really got my attention; maybe my army will be some sort of siege company that fought alongside the Iron Warriors (and hence will have parts of their armour be silver and have more heavy support squads and siege equipment)...

[@siremilcrane]

Raptors (the raven guard successor) were supposedly founded from initiates training on Deliverance when the drop site massacre happened, I play them in 40k and now I am seriously considering an olive green and camouflage raven guard army for HH

[@greyman8009]

That's my plan too just some splodges of green paint in a camo esque pattern and some small water slide decals of their later chapter heraldry

[@RamboArminius1]

Come to think of it, this also could also be useful for those who play modern 40 K as well. It could provide backstory for year chaos space marine, warband or loyalist, space, marine chapter.

[@namefinder]

I'm thinking of making a mechanized white scars infantry unit, need to read myself a bit more into the book to fill in the gaps :)

[@ChrisAPlaysGames]

I've been planning an Imperial Fists army ever since I saw the Fafnir Rann model (I'm still waiting for mine to show up, lol), but after I am finished with them, I'm tempted to collect a traitor force to go up against them. For whatever reason, I'm really tempted to paint some Sons of Horus minis in the old Luna Wolves colour scheme; it's a beautiful scheme, and it feels slight more unique and special (My only problem would be having to take all the SoH iconography off the forge world models XD)

[@mirage809]

I've been painting all of the legions over the last 8 months or so on the side, partially to challenge myself and partially because I wanna test out schemes if I take the plunge into the Heresy. Did a Luna Wolf to signify all legionaries that had different loyalties from their primarchs and am doing an Ashen Claw for all those that went renegade to do their own thing. Gotta say that I love the Ashen Claws dark grey and red scheme. If I do take the plunge then I will probably go with Sons of Horus or Ashen Claws depending. It's amazing just how much flexibility there is even in Heresy.

[@matthewellison8252]

Painting my Emp. Children in white with purple and gold trim, I seem to recall there was a reference to this in the Epic Space Marine rules, where 2 legions clashed and it was viewed from far away, so it looked like the 2 colours merged and destroyed each other. The ECs were were white, can't recall the other colour or legion. Anyway, white just seems a great colour for a legion obsessed with perfection.

[@ryanhamilton5672]

I went with an Istvaan III loyalist force, so made up of EC, WEs, DG and Sons. Looks nice together and really shows the chaos of the setting. However, turning them unique even that early, WEs right arms are all coated in blood to rep the Warhounds, EC squads are all from Demeters, Tarvitz and Lucius company's. My CC are made up of WEs and Sons, tactical and some support are EC and a few DG heavy support squads make the rest. Looks unique (even though I'm just mixing and tweaking standard patterns) is thematic and fluffy as i can make it. Also, love fielding my RT Guard with them 😁

[@WAcrobat19]

Although this video is more 30k than 40k, the alternate color scheme tip did help a lot! I'm making a homebrew chapter for my little brother, and its such a fun way of differentiating the Primaris and Firstborn marines in his Chapter.

[@IratusSerpentus]

I wish I could get the black books still, I'm just getting into the heresy and they seem like such a wealth of information

[@GARice1985]

I've not played 40k in about 20 years, but the new edition of Heresy on the horizon is slowly drawing me in. My current plan for when I inevitably cave is to build a loyalist Luna Wolves force in various stages of changing their heraldry back from Sons of Horus. Mismatched armour panels, hastily painted over iconography and some obvious divergent thoughts on how to show their true loyalty. But then Black Shields and Shattered Legions are tempting too...

[@henuel906]

Just to be precise about Unification Thousand sons, their armour is not bone color, it's dusted metallic armour. One FW member shared the scheme to paint them. Metallic base, but if you weather it with dust pigment you'll have this look. I've choose this scheme to paint my loyalist "Thousand Sons" army.

[@hirowinglessangel]

I like the look and overall color scheme of 30k DA to their 40k. Also, started my dive into wh. With a buddy comparing Horus to my childhood hero, Sephiroth. So, I started in with DAs. I wanted to incorporate my two favorites into one, creating a DA unit called, The One Winged Angels. Black armored, marines with Silver pauldrons, and the iconography of the DA only showing one wing, instead of two. A melee primart focused unit. Loyalist, but also wanted to tie them into 40k, by saying several were suck up by accident and misplaced by Caliban's world shattering warp storm.

[@teunartstudio7183]

Solid video Ian, great work. Might be worth another video on, but there is definitely a discussion to be had on whether 3rd party models and bits SHOULD be allowed at heresy events and such. I am firmly in the camp that they should, as this hobby isn't just owned by GW but by all of us that participate, but I know an increasing number of events have been imposing "GW ONLY" modeling rules. That may definitely have an impact on your decision to kitbash a HH army.

[@ArbitorIan]

I didn't know that. I've certainly never heard of an independent event implementing a GW only policy, but it's exactly the sort of thing some elements of the HH community would try and pull! Personally, I have armies with and without 3rd party bits, and I've definitely taken armies with subtle printed bases and shoulder pads to WHW before without issue. I get why GW do it, but independents doing it just needless rivet-counter gatekeeping.

[@teunartstudio7183]

@@ArbitorIan I have only recently heard of it happening, with Adepticon this year. I am sure it's up to each individual event to make their rules, though I suspect GW heavily influences those decisions with things like withheld prize support, censorship threats, etc. Would love to be proven wrong but it certainly seems that way as more events begin to implement these restrictions.

[@christopherpoxon9508]

Painting a custom Space Wolf army for my son, black with silver trim might use the traditional honor marks. Think it's going to look sweet next to white tiger striped transports.

[@LinkiePup]

Something I did for my Sons of Horus is I used Kabalite Green, and Sons of Horus Green on different units so that A) They look like part of the same army, and B) so I wasn’t just painting the same colors. Another thing I did, due to the unregimented companies of the SoH, I did some shoulders, kneepads, the grills of, or the entire back packs in black! A nice way to make 20 MK4 marines look different!

[@clonetf141]

for my blood angels, I plan painting the mk2 bits and the under armour of the mk3 and cataphractii armour in their old pre sanguinius colour scheme. my force is going to consist of three elements, the old guard, who will have grey as their secondary colour because they mostly hail from the presanguinius days, then the element made of the marines who were recruited after sanguinius, and then finally the third elmenent which are going to be the raw recruits pressed into service way earlier than they should have. Another thing I plan on doing is to convert half of my mk6 marines into looking more like mk5, I personnally prefer the older lore of mk6 being rarer during the HH. as for the lore, this chapter of the blood angels would post heresy become my homebrew 40k chapter

[@tharkwarrior]

Great stuff and always, Ian. Gamers should feel free to do what they want with models and kitbash all they want. One other angle would be to model forces from the lost/forgotten/expurgated Legions II and XI.

[@nathanresendez4034]

I ended up painting my box as Salamanders and some squads are standard green with some flames. My veterans are mostly black with flames. Remembering Istvaan V and the loss of their Primarch (so they thought). It looks VERY Salamanders but I liked the story I had made up for my company

[@nasigoring1525]

Hey, love the video. Luetin does a great bit of FAN FICTION with "Sigmar the Mad" as a lost Primarch for a lost Legion. I know. People hate it. I love it. So I was thinking of making a "Black Shields" army but having them as "Gold Shields", a break away marauder force that did not respond when they were called home to be integrated in to the Ultramarines and chose instead to head further in to the galactic east (where they were scouting similar to White Scars pioneer companies) to form their own fiefdom once the Heresy broke out. Obviously that's all head canon and externally they are a rogue element of an unknown legion who call themselves gold shields instead of black shields, taking on an unremembered livery of a twin tailed comment/lightning bolts etc. I will be buying the new heresy box and have a burning of Prospero set - any recommendations of conversions or bits?

[@MrAndrewlang]

I’m quite taken with the idea of a blackshield force as an experimental force for police actions after the completion of the great crusade, based on the old field police colours from the rouge trader era.

[@Powoga]

I guess you could also mix in parts painted in the colours of other legions and justify it by saying they're looted bits of armour, either out of necessity (probably more common among the Shattered Legions), or as trophies (which sounds like something the Traitor Legions might do), right?

[@Bluecho4]

The Night Lords do that a lot in the 40K era, if the novel trilogy is anything to go by. I imagine during the Heresy, most companies had to do that, simply to keep fighting. If the only Forge World within light years of you is controlled by the other side, and you need replacement armor pieces NOW, you take what you can get. Often, there's just not enough time or resources to correct the paint scheme. So a mismatched suit seems very appropriate.

[@swagismund]

I play imperal fist and a lot of my marines are 40k marines because thats just what i went with when i first got into the hobby and it's what i had. I don't feel it's too inaccurate since it's a late heresy army and at the Siedge of terra marines were premeted to use the aquila. I justify a lot of the mixed armor parts because before the siedge reached terra sigusmund was sent to mars to retrieve all the power armor and weapons he could so I'm doubtful he would be too concerned that all the armor marks would be matching. For the purity seals i painted the parchment black and the seal leadbealcher so it looks like a piece of leather that was bolted on. I'll be honest i have no idea what its supposed to be but it looks different from a purity seal so it works for me. I also changed their bases from an alien planet to something a lot more earthy and tried to make them match the space marine heros blind box bases a little more. Overall i feel my marines look and feel late heresy enough and I'm really satisfied with them and no one has had any complaints about them

[@ElSWVisitor]

5:29 I literally just started painting my salamanders for Legions Imperialis in the flame camo scheme 😂

[@gideonhorwitz9434]

I have a marine legionary mystery that needs to be solved. In my browsing on the wiki for space marine color schemes and armor mrks I came across a unique sons of Horus marine He wore Maximus armor bearing no cyrhonian glyphs spikes or skulls so pre heresy. What’s set this marine apart from any of the sons of Horus I’ve seen so far was with the exception of his pauldrons (that were sea green bearing the yellow eye of Horus) the rest of his armor from head to toe was white. He wasn’t an apothecary as he didn’t have any medical equipment and the only symbol bore on his chest belt thing was a white crescent moon but instead of a wolf head along side it there two small vertical swords. Anybody have ideas?

[@Noxims47314]

I can only speculate, but the Raptor imperialis on his left gauntlet is a symbol awarded to the legion in it's loyalist days. the crescent moon with two swords can be a specific campaign honors given to the marine, (such as the first pacification of Luna featured on a Luna Wolves Centurion in another image.) but then i also remember that each member of the Mournival symbolized one of the phases of the moon which could also add to the idea that this marine might have served with the gibbous (crescent) moon captain of the mournival, Torgaddon. also, as the armor is mostly white this may be in a period that the Legion was still making its transfer to the Sea-green colors of the Sons Of Horus.

[@gideonhorwitz9434]

@@Noxims47314 cool u found it was well when I stated reading Horus rising series as I was getting into 40k I fell in love with the pre heresy 16th Luna wolves wanted to know everything about them down to their symbols and iconography. So when I found this guy on the wiki going through power armor designs it intrigued me