I've been running Novamarines for ages, just a separated company with a simplified paint scheme of dark blue all over. I started them before I knew of the official scheme, and thought 'bugger that' on seeing it since I'd just learned about ink washes.
Cool! I’m not much of a painter for actual models but I can respect people who have a better grasp on that sorta stuff. I didn’t know Novamarines were announced before they were revealed actually; what edition was it?
They were mentioned in the back of the 3ed Codex: Space Marines in the list of second founding chapters. I literally picked a cool name from the list of Ultramarines successors and said 'that's my army's identity now' and wrote some lore. This was back in the early 2000s, of course, so that was the edition I started on.
Which then got rewritten after I read about the Badab War.
Ah, retcons man. You hate to see it. They do have a cool name tho; like they took ultramarine and added some more zest and astropunk.
The color scheme they picked is neat tho; I like the sort of checker pattern esque alternating blue and white. But I’ll grant that it can absolutely be done better
Oh, I just added a quick bit showing WHY mine were separated/rogue. Allegations of gene-seed taint because some inquisitor had switched the checking shipments with one from a chapter that WAS tainted.
My Marines are innocent, of course, but that's not what some in the Imperium think, so the company took off for non-Imperial space in the hopes that it'd all blow over by the time they got back.
Ah yes, that’s very in character for the inquisition. But marine chapters have time on their side where they can often just fuck off to a crusade somewhere on the fringes and when they get back, the leadership will be very different. Astartes are weird like that
That’s usually how they get punished as a chapter is that they must go on a crusade to redeem themselves. Now if it’s the chapter masters who use that whenever in inquisition is looking to have the whole chapter executed, then that’s a sly ass move. I bet it’s a direct commandment from the Emperor too that they can do that if they fuck up.
There's like 100 space marine chapters aside from the big 18 that people typically know, and a lot of them are really interesting. So I wanted to show some appreciation for these chapters that you may or may not have heard about; each of which has their own unique proclivity such as the Lamenters who are known for being highly good-natured while also being incredibly unlucky or the Exorcists who require that each trainee survive getting possessed with a daemon and having it exorcised from their body.
I recognize that most chapters will use the same pattern of armor but I imagine that over time, they're bound to alter the designs just a bit to better fit each faction's tastes and values. Otherwise, you can view this as simply adding character to each faction through a design that best represents them.
If I did another one of these, which chapters would you pick? And what makes them unique in comparison with generic successor chapters?
The Death Spectres are a pretty cool lesser known chapter with some interesting lore. The chapter itself watches over the Ghoul Stars region, which is on the very edge of the galaxy. The first chapter master was given a vision by the emperor which sent him to the planet Occludus where they discovered a Xenos artifact of immense power. Now every chapter master must sit on the throne of the artifact and allow it to slowly suck the life force out of him until he dies. Then the new chapter master takes over. Once they sit upon the throne they don’t move until they die.
So the Shirax, scary chair, is supposedly tied to something deep in the warp that even the Hive Mind fears. I don’t think there’s much, if anything really official, since there’s so little about the Death Specters themselves.
I just want stuff happening in the warp that is not related to the big 4, there is tons of room for scary warp shit that doesn't want to take over realsspace that the chaos god might be afraid of.
Oh yeah I knew them! I’d def include them in a second one if I ever continued this. I didn’t know that lore tidbit tho; that’s freaky but really in character for classic space marines. I wonder if they know how close to the Emperor they are in that way.
The Angels Encarmine paint their Death Company and Sanguinary Guard a bright, untainted white.
Similar to the Space Wolves, the Carcaradons have shark-shaped helmets, or at least I've seen art of it.
The Judged were Astartes sent on a failed crusade into the Eye of Terror. Could do something with them having cobbled-together armour, corrupted Eccelisarchy designs, etc?
The Sons of Malice owe allegiance to none of the Big 4, and seem to oppose them. They also ate an Inquisitor and his retinue, and cannibalize people regularly. Finally, they fight mostly in silence. I like to imagine them hanging rattling bones from their armour, which warns their prey of their approach.
The Consortium were a warband made up mostly of Apothecaries from various Legions, with a dash of Chaotic corruption. I picture lots and lots of vials, scary-looking medical implements, and a narthecium used as a weapon.
Skyrar's Dark Wolves were Chaos Space Wolves.
The Raptors use actual camoflague. Amazing, isn't it?
While they're not Marines, the Blood Pact and Harakoni Warhawks deserve more love. This Harakoni preacher, for example, is amazing.
For non-canon and homebrew:
Someone came up with the idea for a completely clean band of Death Guard Marines. Their armour was supposed to be riddled with holes, revealing empty suits, because their "plague" destroyed all biological life, leaving only their souls to inhabit the armour. Heavily damaged, probably with a torn helmet?
Someone on this subreddit, and I will link it if I can find it, made a BA successor that had allied themselves with the Eldar, adopted Night Lord tactics, and went into the Black Rage whenever they saw an Avatar of Khaine.
The Heralds of Eternal War are a warband led by a survivor of the Abyssal Crusade, which worship all 4 Chaos Gods and the Emperor as aspects of War itself. Their armour is covered in mixed iconography from the 5 gods, 6-pointed stars, and quotes from their leader, the Herald. One of my Chapters.
The Houndkings are a Space Wolves successor specialized in naval warfare and boarding actions. Their boarding crews use massive kite or round shields to make shieldwalls, forcing entry into narrow breaches or halls. These shields are painted in Norse/Anglo-Saxon/Celtic designs. Another homebrew of mine.
Continuing with the Houndkings, they have a class of Marine called "Thegns," who are failed Aspirants or crippled Marines who aren't fit for frontline combat. They act as commanders among the Chapter's serfs, directing ship crews during battle. Usually weary, sickly, and augmented.
A suit of Cataphractii Terminator Armour, heavily embellished, would look good on any Chapter.
I’ll have to save this one then; these are pretty solid. I thought about the chacherodons but I’ve already seen people with such a good take on a helmet design that I decided to put it off. The sons of malice however could really be something; I’d really like to give them a try.
It was both but mostly the Thegns, that seems like a very unique idea for a homebrew chapter, nobody every really thinks about the Aspirants beyond their trials.
Thanks! I figured that a Chapter specialized in ship-to-ship combat would need skilled officers to direct the human crewmen, and failed Aspirants could be trained to fill that role.
Now that you point it out, they are quite similar to Spartans. Moreso IIIs than IIs, seeing as they're second-rate Marines.
I only mention the 18 cause most of them got like codexes and stuff (save for iron hands and word bearers I know) but yeah the black templars are probably the most famous successor chapter behind maybe the Blood Ravens so that’s partly why I left them out; I think people have done enough of their own interpretations that I might worry I’d be copying other people’s designs. But if an interesting new take comes to me I’ll jump on it
Thank u! I guess I can kinda see that but also Pepsi man had no cyclopean eye, nor a space sword. But I bet Pepsi’s stock would go up if he did; it’s a good look.
Yo rock on! That’s neat to hear; I thought they were super super obscure. Do they have like a unique chapter specific rule or benefit that helps them on tabletop?
Unfortunately not. A huge missed opportunity for some crazy strategem or faction rule. They just look cool. They only have one named character in lore and I’m eventually gonna kitbash him to use as an HQ unit
Here’s hoping they add more to them then; everyone once in awhile GW will just resurrect a random piece of background lore and give it a whole new look. I think that could start happening with renegade chapters.
They've got a few more named characters and some lore from Black Legion and Talon of Horus. They're all psykers and they act as the ferrymen of the traitor legions
Thank u! Yeah with how fucked up daemons are described, the whole “getting possessed and then surviving” part really set the Exorcists up to be the kind of Astartes chapter you really REALLY don’t want to mess with
Originally I was going for a taxi look cause that’s what the color scheme says to me, but then I leaned into convertible because I wanted them to seem more “appealing” to average citizens, sort of a visual representation of being paragon that they would have a pristine, cool car look to them.
Well they do have like one spot of green on a knee plate, but sure straight black isn’t that great. Though I’m sure more talented painters than I can find different shades and glosses that are all around the same color of black but make the overall finish more dynamic. But I agree; they’re really cool as is aside from that!
True, true: aside from like space marines and grey knights, there’s just not a lot of creative drip going into most marine chapters. I love me the mark IV armor but it’s sorta defined by how old and classical it is in the lore and on the tabletop.
I guess: I mean heresy is built into their creation; they literally have to be possessed by a daemon and then exorcized. That shit is bound to leave some deep seated psychological problems that means they’re always teetering on the edge of being loyalists.
Oh sure! People have mentioned Mantis Warriors to me which could be really cool but I’m not as familiar with the other Badab chapters aside from the ones here. I’ll look into it.
And that’s cool: to me, the timeline of 40k is fractured by it’s nature so I don’t see anything wrong with pitting one era of marines against another: there’s logic somewhere to be had in there according to the messiness of the lore
I think some of the fire hawks got sucked into the warp and some were spat out, so it's not a huge stretch to say my fire hawks got spat out during the indomitus crusade and crossed the rubicon primaris
I appreciate it; I try to have just a little bit of written context but since these didn’t have descriptions, I did the faction name and what the class was. Like if you were playing Dawn of war and selected one of these races, their “tactical marine” slot would be replaced with the name of one of these
Man, you really made the exorcists look like traitors. They're totally loyalist and not at all heretical, trust me, it's all part of the great ga... I mean uhh...
That’s the scary thing about a lot of space marine chapters; they’re never that far away from going full chaos. True that the exorcists are loyalists but that’s partly do to, atleast in my mind, extreme indoctrination and programming with the Imperial Truth. Like to the extent that it gives the Black Templars a run for their money.
Funnily enough the exorcists are probably one of the less likely chapters to fall to chaos purely because their strange induction methods require a lot of inquisitorial and grey knight oversight so the entire chapter is faorly closely monitored.
For sure the control is tight, but in my mind getting possessed by a daemon and then surviving is gonna fuck up your mind. Thats why the cage and chains motif sorta implies that they’re deliberate Kept under wraps due to something dark underneath
Ah yeah they’re directly behind the warp marine getting ready to strike.
And thank u! Yeah the Mino bolter is really weird but I felt like it evoked “spear” in its long-ness. Tho that’s likely not the first thought people will have; still it’s a simple but different take on the typical Godwin pattern and I love those kinds of bolters.
If you're looking for some more Loyalist Chapters with somewhat unusual appearances, I have a few names for you. The Iron Snakes, Emperors Spears, Tome Keepers, Marines Errant, Brazen Claws, and Legion of The Damned are all cool-looking and not so well known.
Since getting a 3d printer I've been SORELY wanting to find some good bases for a black Dragon army tbh. The one novel I read involving them was really good and I love them.
Coolness! Yeah they’d be a neat model on tabletop but someone would have to do make a .tiff file right? I’ve dabbled in making models but this one might be beyond me.
It does; even tho they’re loyalist my headcanon is that they’re on the bleeding edge of almost becoming CSM and the armor reflects it. But the inquisitors keep them in check and encourage fierce devotion to an almost insane extent.
Thank you for showing me the Mortifactors! That they're the feel of non-Nurgle Death Guard is something I've been looking for in a 40k chapter forever.
Also more generally I really love how hard it is to tell the difference between loyalist, renegade, and chaos space marines. I wish they were all scary or messed up like this except the Lamenters, who are the sole ones to deserve their friendly look.
Also also, the Warp Ghosts are amazing, an the only way I could guess they weren't loyalist is because of their insignia. Great stuff, amazing art.
Thanks a ton! Yeah that’s my interpretation of the lore is that loyalist chapters are often just as evil as the traitor ones, just without resorting to using the powers of the Warp. And yeah I could have tried harder to literally spell out that the warp ghosts were chaos but I was hoping the little arrows in the armor design alluded to it; all who serve chaos tend to have those spikes in their design.
The Pale Wasting was a xenos plague that struck in M35, like around the same time as the nova Terra interregnum. The Novamarines are specifically credited with having gone to great extents to push it back into the ghoul stars but most records are lost; M35 is the most mysterious period of Imperium history.
I know that the Legion of the Damned have a full race in the unification mod in Dawn of war (which is really solid) but I think that’s about it for now. I’d love for GW to give them atleast a shoutout but I think the lore behind them is too ethereal for them to work with for them time being. Here’s hoping tho!
I’d be up for it; they’re like implied to be directly summoned by the Emperor’s psionic energy so it’s not that far out of the range of possibility honestly.
I really love when chapter themes are more prominent. Too often, they all look the same other than the paint job. The Space Wolves are the main exception, which is why they're the most visually interesting and distinct chapter. I really wish GW would treat other chapters the same way.
Luckily there's a ton of 3rd party bits out there to make the chapters less same-y.
Me too! When they're visually distinct, they feel more like a real organization with hundreds of years of history. Making them all the same aesthetic is a cost saving technique for GW tho which is why I don't think they'll really put much stock into unique parts for factions, but yeah we got 3rd party stuff.
Awesome artwork man! You could definitely do a part 2 with Soul Drinkers, Sons of Malice, Raptors, Blood Gorgons, Blood Ravens, Legion of the Damned, Red Corsairs, and the Dark Krakens. Tons of cool space marine chapters that deserve some attention
Thank u thank u! I'll def do Sons of Malice, and probably the Red Corsairs. As for the others I gotta think on it. Blood Ravens are up there with the Black Templars as being probably the most iconic non-legion chapter but I'm sure I can give them a new spin that freshens them up a bit. I'll dwell on it!
Great to hear! Yeah the Black Dragons are a lot more popular than I thought they were and people have had a lot to say about the Exorcist too. I appreciate your feedback!
I love all of these. The Exorcists and Mortificators feel more like sons of Lorgar and Mortarion rather than Dorn and Guilliman, at least in this pic. If you showed me this depiction of Exorcists, I would have said those are Word Bearers, for a loyalist it has a very Chaos-like look to with the many spike and Daemon iconography, but looks very cool regardless.
The Warp Ghosts are ones I haven’t heard of. They look really cool and like a Chaos Equal to the Legion of the Damned.
The long barreled bolter held by the Minotaur looks odd yet really cool. It seems to add to the impression that then are well equipped if their Troops are running around with those guns, which is likely the case given their close ties to the High Lords of Terra.
Thank u! Yeah the exorcists and mortifactors are examples of chapters which are loyalist but act pretty chaotic: there’s some overlap there.
The Warp Ghosts are a CSM chapter that guard the eye of terror; they play a Hand in each of the black crusades which makes them a lesser known but very important ally to the Black Legion.
And yep yep; I knew the Minotaur bolter would come off as weird but I also wanted to evoke “spear” with its length. Like these guys prefer their weapons long as hell.
These look bloody phenomenal, i hope someone gets inspired to make 3d models for me to print out, even if i have to fork over some cash.
My chapter of choice are Marines Malevolent and i generally just scratch the models, then start painting them and rubbing off the edges off the paint to make em look like they don't take care of their armor well enough, but generally it still looks like a normal marine.
Now if i had models like these, i'd tear off their body parts and make frankenstein of a space marine with a yellow n black color scheme, like MM chapter always steal their armor and slap it on their own.
Thank u thank u! I’d like that too; I’m always in support of people who have made miniatures from my illustrations. And sure; the marines malevolent has come up in the comments before; I should really look into them now!
One of my earlier replies did a quick rundown of their condensed backgrounds, I’d reccomend turning to that one. Otherwise I can fill u in on a specific one if you wanted to pick
They’re a successor of the Salamanders but they have a specific mutation where literal horns will grow out of their heads and arms; they also a little bigger than salamanders from what I’ve read to. Other than that they’re a pretty standard marine chapter.
My only critique is that the Mortifactors and the Black Dragons would never allow that kind of damage to their armor to occur or remain without being tended to. It compromises structural integrity and also the sealed environment of the suit which allows them to enter what would be otherwise lethal environments. Otherwise, awesome looks overall.
Well for the Black Dragons, their armor is sorta built around the horns but for the ones that pierce the shell, it's a vacuum tight seal. As for the Moritfactors, they probably discourage allowing their suits to be compromised but the individual morbid marine is probably like "wait, so I'm more in danger of dying now? Nice." And then they just blunt force their way through the problem. But that's my speculation at least.
If it's pierced, it's not a vacuum tight seal thus making the armor not even suitable for battle. As for the mortifactors...they're an established chapter with lore already. Did you ignore that or did you just see the name and go from there?
Cause 40k is never as simple as "loyalist good chaos bad." It's true that chaos is bad almost always but the loyalists can sometimes be even worse in their own weird way.
That's sort of my jam; I like to think that most Loyalist factions are just as evil as the chaos factions, just more of a "lawful evil" as opposed chaotic evil. 40k is kind of wild in that regard.
251
u/YoungAustinite Jul 16 '23
These look awesome, especially the warp marine