Ruminating on Color Schemes

With the upcoming tournament mentioned in my last post prompting me to sit back down at the painting table, I find myself once again confronting the decision that has paralyzed every other attempt to start a marine army - what color scheme/chapter to use. Because space marines are the 40K army perhaps most singularly uniform in appearance (compare the myriad chaos marine cults in a single force, or the range of aspect warrior types in an Eldar host), you really have to make sure you pick a scheme you want to paint. Since I'm very much a narrative-oriented gamer, a good background story is important as well. As I have enough other projects that I want to work on, this is going to be my only space marine force as well.

So, below are snapshots of the various schemes that I currently fancy, or have repeatedly resurfaced each time I consider the project over the years. I'm presenting them here as I'm hoping the community will help me decide which scheme/chapter to settle on. So, in no particular order:

I've loved these guys since they graced the cover of the Rogue Trader rulebook. Since I generally prefer "old school" chapters, and will want to do my marines in a throwback scheme if I choose to go the route of an official GW marine chapter, the Fists make perfect sense. As the title of my last post suggests, I was all set to start painting my marines in blue and red. However, it seems like there's been an explosion of Crimson Fist armies on the 'net. I realize this shouldn't have much impact on me, but it does make the project feel less unique.




Another throwback chapter, I've always though the clean white and dark green scheme of the Mentor Legion looked really sharp. They've got a great background as well. To maintain that old school feel, I'd be sure to use their old chapter badge, an owl's head, rather than the hawk's head now used by GW.







My final throwback scheme, the colors of the Silver Skulls could be used, unmodified, for a few other chapters as well, should I decide I wanted to build my own background. Because the painter program I used doesn't represent metallic colors well, let me point out that this isn't a gray scheme, but metallic silver, which is the biggest perk of this scheme. It will be dead easy to do, letting me quickly churn out an army to tabletop standard.





The first of my DIY marine chapters, the Poseidon Legion have jumped to the front of the line whenever I've considered painting some marines. I think the scheme looks great, and would work well both on the infantry (I've done one test marine in these colors) and bikes/land speeders. However, I'm a big fan of the marine armored vehicles and am not convinced that this scheme would translate well across such large canvases. Plus, as the background I've knocked together for these guys has them originating from an aquatic work, regular use of ground-based vehicles doesn't make a ton of sense.




My next DIY chapter, the Mithril Drakes, introduced in a post a year ago, have a scheme I like enough that I had basecoated a combat squad of marines in their colors. I still think it's a sharp scheme and the silver elements, as with the Silver Skulls, will make for fairly quick painting. The sea serpent motif that I planned to use for the chapter iconography would be fun as well. Please don't let the fact that this guy is more finished than the others (squad and chapter markings, boltgun in hand) sway any considerations. I figured it made more sense to reuse the picture posted before rather than rebuilding the scheme.




My final DIY chapter. There's no particular story or thought behind these guys, but I've always though marines in a deep purple would look good. Add in some tasteful gold bling and the parchment colored pauldrons to give some focal points, and I think this scheme works.








So, thoughts? Comments explaining why you like a particular scheme would be great, but I've also set up a poll to the left that you could use to quickly note your thoughts.

Thanks!