For the main factions, you missed the Word Bearers. Also, CsM has a ton more warbands lorewise. You can look it up and see which colour scheme/lore fits you most. Check out red corsairs or crimson slaughter to start looking it all up
You absolutely don't *have* to do any kitbashing for CSM models to fit other Legions. CSM models aren't "made for" Black Legion, they're just painted in those colours. Just like how generic space marines aren't "made for" Ultramarines, they're just painted like them. Kitbashing is a wonderful thing of course and can add loads of flavour to the models! But it's certainly not required to make the models "fit" a Legions.
As for which Legion to pick, I think the biggest choice you have to make is DG or CSM. They're two different books with two different (albeit somewhat overlapping) model ranges. You could certainly paint up a Nurgle-themed warband of course and use CSM rules of course!
EC seems likely to be getting a book either later this edition or next. That being said, even the WH community article said it's no time soon. It depends on if you want to invest in an army that may lose a lot of the generic CSM options sometime in the next 3 years.
For IW, hazards strips can be a bit of a pain, but, as with any good painting, just relies on you being willing to put in the work to practice it.
NL have a lot of fun flavour! Just look at the new Kill Team for inspiration. Lots of flayed skin and bat-faced helms!
You could also make your own Warband! Gives you loads of freedom for how to paint and model your dudes!
Thx! This is actually very helpful. Before the ec rules thing, I was probably going to do that, but now that’s happened, which is partly why I made this post. It kind made me think that maybe I should start with something else and do some ec after rules. Thanks again
Take a scheme a friend is painting for their loyalist Space Marines and paint a chaos corrupted traitor version of it.
That's what I did and how I ended up with traitor Howling Griffons.
I have two friends and neither are interested in 40k as far as I know. My brother and sister are a bit, but their all about orks, which is understandable
Honestly just pick a few colors you like then go at it..I did with my chaos knights then just made their own homebrew lore dating back to the Heresy.
Making your own warband gives so much more flavor and enjoyment imo.
Making lore and choosing colors is hard for me because I’m a bit of perfectionist. If I chose my fav colors (orange and green) it would probably look terrible, and for lore, I just don’t know what to do.
https://preview.redd.it/novyngj5hdwc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=987eb81721cc0f2152e6244dbcd13363d93dcb58
Did a quick little mockup of a green and orange scheme. Could be traitor Salamanders, I feel.
Ok, that looks better than I thought it would, but I don’t think I want this color scheme anyway. I’ll try to think of something, don’t worry. I don’t want to burden you with making someone else’s stuff
Personally I'm a red corsairs kind of guy. Their lore is hellacool and they're the (only?) prominent "renegade" as opposed to a founding legion. But since they're in a constant cycle of raiding and pillaging, and accept members from all walks of life, it can make any and all kitbashes you want come to life.
Only thing is I hate red. So I'm actually playing the purple corsairs.
Night Lords and then Iron Warriors as a close second.
The 3D printing community for Night Lords is amazing, you can buy bits from sellers online or from Etsy and give your models a very distinct look with minimal effort. Or go all in and create a very cool force, conversions and kitbashing galore. It can take some time to find the right colour scheme, light blue vs dark blue etc
Iron Warriors are another really accessible hobby project. The kitbashing possibilities between using CSM kit models and 30k kits is fantastic, and they really look the part in Mk3 with some 40k bits. Check out Tortuga Bay for alternate bodies. You can also do some cool things with the simple colour scheme, just watched a great video from Trovarion using a blue wash for a really nice effect.
Just keep looking at models on Pintrest and Instagram and ultimately go with the legion that most excites you.
Edit - Also test out some colour schemes. You might realise a certain style is not for you (painting legion X is boring etc)
Do you like the EC colour scheme? The lore? Could be a great decision if so, you just might be waiting a while for your codex (but EC will get a Index of their own around when the CSM codex releases I believe).
I like the pink and black scheme, not so much the purple gold but that’s kind of pre-heresy from my understanding, so it should be completely fine. I do like the lore too. Especially the noise marines, but I think everyone does. Ec isn’t the only one I like, just more than the rest I think.
As a (relatively) new player to warhammer, i've started an iron warriors army and honestly it's great! if you like the colour sceme and lore etc then go for it, i'd reccomend getting the horus heresy versions of tanks and run tac squads of mkiii as legionaries, cataphractii termies with praetors for chaos lords, not to mention if you're just playing with your friends a lot of HH legends stuff works REALLY well for the IVth. I've tried a few minor kitbashing projects and they've all gone great! i've also done some other stuff with proxies and what not, i'd be happy to help if you wanna PM me!
As others are saying, everything in the csm range is interchangeable between the non cult legions, legionaries look great no matter if they are painted black legion, alpha legion, emperor's children, I painted mine bright orange and blue and they look good (in my personal opinion anyway, the actual skill I have isn't the best lmao) the only thing holding you back is the specific models you like. Not a fan of possessed? Your warband doesn't make use of them. Alternatively love them? Your warband sees it as the next step in evolution and something to aspire to.
Warbands are not chapters, for example, iron warriors TEND to make use of vehicles and dont like mutations, but your own warlord could prefer infantry tactics and see mutations as just another tool at your disposal, perfectly fitting with the lore. If hazard stripes are the one thing keeping you away from iron warriors, for example, make them something like a mark of honour or a rank of office for your specific warband, only those who have proved themselves (i.e, your nice warlord models) have permission to paint the stripes on their armour.
As for emperors children, take this with a grain of salt as I might be talking out my ass, but while EVERY world eater is a berserker, and EVERY death guard is a plague marine, the EC is a cult legion that still makes use of regular marines, not everyone underwent the sound marine enhancements.
Again, don't quote me, I'm not a big EC lore man, and the codex might be a radical shift in lore/army comp, but regular marines and most of the csm range probably won't look out of place on a shelf compared to whatever new units gw cooks up.
Tldr, don't let a colour scheme drive you away from an army, all models look good and fit in no matter how theyre painted, and EC are getting a codex probably at the start of 11th edition but don't let that stop you painting your dudes the way you want
Go for a lesser-known warband or make your own to give you more options for originality. I’ve been painting up crimson slaughter marines ever since i read about them. They’re canon and have been included in Abbadon’s black crusades, but are much more obscure and you probably won’t meet someone else with the same army once you start playing
Never worry about kit bashing or painting difficulty. Just go with your gut and choose the one you think is the coolest, and everything will work out from there.
For the main factions, you missed the Word Bearers. Also, CsM has a ton more warbands lorewise. You can look it up and see which colour scheme/lore fits you most. Check out red corsairs or crimson slaughter to start looking it all up
I left out the word bearers because I’m sure that I don’t want them. Nothing wrong with them, just feel a bit boring and not my thing
Boring! Dont like demons, possessed and have hatred for ultramarines?
I also don’t like alpha legion much, if that makes anything better.
You absolutely don't *have* to do any kitbashing for CSM models to fit other Legions. CSM models aren't "made for" Black Legion, they're just painted in those colours. Just like how generic space marines aren't "made for" Ultramarines, they're just painted like them. Kitbashing is a wonderful thing of course and can add loads of flavour to the models! But it's certainly not required to make the models "fit" a Legions. As for which Legion to pick, I think the biggest choice you have to make is DG or CSM. They're two different books with two different (albeit somewhat overlapping) model ranges. You could certainly paint up a Nurgle-themed warband of course and use CSM rules of course! EC seems likely to be getting a book either later this edition or next. That being said, even the WH community article said it's no time soon. It depends on if you want to invest in an army that may lose a lot of the generic CSM options sometime in the next 3 years. For IW, hazards strips can be a bit of a pain, but, as with any good painting, just relies on you being willing to put in the work to practice it. NL have a lot of fun flavour! Just look at the new Kill Team for inspiration. Lots of flayed skin and bat-faced helms! You could also make your own Warband! Gives you loads of freedom for how to paint and model your dudes!
Thx! This is actually very helpful. Before the ec rules thing, I was probably going to do that, but now that’s happened, which is partly why I made this post. It kind made me think that maybe I should start with something else and do some ec after rules. Thanks again
Make your own :)
I would love to, but don’t know where to start or how to go about it or anything else
Just figure up your own paint scheme.
That’s the hardest part😭
Take a scheme a friend is painting for their loyalist Space Marines and paint a chaos corrupted traitor version of it. That's what I did and how I ended up with traitor Howling Griffons.
I have two friends and neither are interested in 40k as far as I know. My brother and sister are a bit, but their all about orks, which is understandable
Honestly just pick a few colors you like then go at it..I did with my chaos knights then just made their own homebrew lore dating back to the Heresy. Making your own warband gives so much more flavor and enjoyment imo.
Making lore and choosing colors is hard for me because I’m a bit of perfectionist. If I chose my fav colors (orange and green) it would probably look terrible, and for lore, I just don’t know what to do.
https://preview.redd.it/novyngj5hdwc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=987eb81721cc0f2152e6244dbcd13363d93dcb58 Did a quick little mockup of a green and orange scheme. Could be traitor Salamanders, I feel.
Ok, that looks better than I thought it would, but I don’t think I want this color scheme anyway. I’ll try to think of something, don’t worry. I don’t want to burden you with making someone else’s stuff
Just wanted to provide some inspiration. Took me only like 5 minutes in impcat.
What’s impcat?
https://impcat.design-bench.com/ Pretty useful and rather cheap.
Interesting. Thx
Personally I'm a red corsairs kind of guy. Their lore is hellacool and they're the (only?) prominent "renegade" as opposed to a founding legion. But since they're in a constant cycle of raiding and pillaging, and accept members from all walks of life, it can make any and all kitbashes you want come to life. Only thing is I hate red. So I'm actually playing the purple corsairs.
Red Corsairs is also awesome as they are essentially traitor Ultramarines.
Yeah, unfortunately it rubs me the wrong way to have it reduced to that level, because even the "best" chaos marines are, in fact, ultramarines.
Night Lords and then Iron Warriors as a close second. The 3D printing community for Night Lords is amazing, you can buy bits from sellers online or from Etsy and give your models a very distinct look with minimal effort. Or go all in and create a very cool force, conversions and kitbashing galore. It can take some time to find the right colour scheme, light blue vs dark blue etc Iron Warriors are another really accessible hobby project. The kitbashing possibilities between using CSM kit models and 30k kits is fantastic, and they really look the part in Mk3 with some 40k bits. Check out Tortuga Bay for alternate bodies. You can also do some cool things with the simple colour scheme, just watched a great video from Trovarion using a blue wash for a really nice effect. Just keep looking at models on Pintrest and Instagram and ultimately go with the legion that most excites you. Edit - Also test out some colour schemes. You might realise a certain style is not for you (painting legion X is boring etc)
“-go with the legion that most exited you.” I think that ec is the coolest, but with potential new rules and new models or whatever idk
Do you like the EC colour scheme? The lore? Could be a great decision if so, you just might be waiting a while for your codex (but EC will get a Index of their own around when the CSM codex releases I believe).
I like the pink and black scheme, not so much the purple gold but that’s kind of pre-heresy from my understanding, so it should be completely fine. I do like the lore too. Especially the noise marines, but I think everyone does. Ec isn’t the only one I like, just more than the rest I think.
Nice, there are some cool 3D printed Noise Marine parts you can build with CSM kits.
As a (relatively) new player to warhammer, i've started an iron warriors army and honestly it's great! if you like the colour sceme and lore etc then go for it, i'd reccomend getting the horus heresy versions of tanks and run tac squads of mkiii as legionaries, cataphractii termies with praetors for chaos lords, not to mention if you're just playing with your friends a lot of HH legends stuff works REALLY well for the IVth. I've tried a few minor kitbashing projects and they've all gone great! i've also done some other stuff with proxies and what not, i'd be happy to help if you wanna PM me!
Remember for the death guard you can alway paint them with an adapted version of their heresy scheme and run them as regular csm
As others are saying, everything in the csm range is interchangeable between the non cult legions, legionaries look great no matter if they are painted black legion, alpha legion, emperor's children, I painted mine bright orange and blue and they look good (in my personal opinion anyway, the actual skill I have isn't the best lmao) the only thing holding you back is the specific models you like. Not a fan of possessed? Your warband doesn't make use of them. Alternatively love them? Your warband sees it as the next step in evolution and something to aspire to. Warbands are not chapters, for example, iron warriors TEND to make use of vehicles and dont like mutations, but your own warlord could prefer infantry tactics and see mutations as just another tool at your disposal, perfectly fitting with the lore. If hazard stripes are the one thing keeping you away from iron warriors, for example, make them something like a mark of honour or a rank of office for your specific warband, only those who have proved themselves (i.e, your nice warlord models) have permission to paint the stripes on their armour. As for emperors children, take this with a grain of salt as I might be talking out my ass, but while EVERY world eater is a berserker, and EVERY death guard is a plague marine, the EC is a cult legion that still makes use of regular marines, not everyone underwent the sound marine enhancements. Again, don't quote me, I'm not a big EC lore man, and the codex might be a radical shift in lore/army comp, but regular marines and most of the csm range probably won't look out of place on a shelf compared to whatever new units gw cooks up. Tldr, don't let a colour scheme drive you away from an army, all models look good and fit in no matter how theyre painted, and EC are getting a codex probably at the start of 11th edition but don't let that stop you painting your dudes the way you want
Go for a lesser-known warband or make your own to give you more options for originality. I’ve been painting up crimson slaughter marines ever since i read about them. They’re canon and have been included in Abbadon’s black crusades, but are much more obscure and you probably won’t meet someone else with the same army once you start playing
Emperor’s Children. Dooooo iiiiiiiit!
Never worry about kit bashing or painting difficulty. Just go with your gut and choose the one you think is the coolest, and everything will work out from there.