Help picking a faction to dig really deep into the lore for, and do a big diorama project of?

[rfkannen]

After finishing up my deathguard speed-painting project, I want to do a 180 and take as much time as possible with an AoS army. My idea is that it would be fun to, before touching a single model, really read the lore and get all the juicy bits. Then I want to use that lore to make a custom subfaction,  with a thematic list, lore and a color scheme. Then spend ages painting each individual model (way longer than I usually do), and then finish it up with a massive diorama containing a whole 2k point army and a bunch of terrain.

However, I am completly blanking on picking a faction to dig into for this project, and I would love y'all's help picking one!

 

Here are my ideas for what I would find fun in the lore:

People:

• So far, my two favorite bits of aos lore I've heard are:
  • 1: an orruk cried when its favorite squig died in the end times
  • 2: Some bonereapers are considered disposable and know it, so they buddy up and agree to fix each other if one survives.
• I want an army of people with thoughts and feelings who care about each other. For this project, I'd prefer to avoid mindless killing machines that can't love or care.  I especially like seeing the emotional side of evil or non-human characters, but all good is also okay.

 

Customization:

• My two favorite mini-painting projects I have seen were the eons of battle inquisitor kill team and the tabletop time space bears army. I really like the idea of kitbashing an armies models, deciding their place in the lore, and letting that influence their painting decisions!
• As a part of that, I want to make an army that doesn't have any pre-existing named characters, I want any characters in this project to be entirely made for this project (from what I understand, there are some factions that are hard to play right without named characters)

History:

• I like having a history of a faction to draw on; for example, in tabletop time's space bears, I feel like knowing what happened to Lemun Russ, how the primaris got made, etc, really adds to the flavor of the legion, and helps tie it into things.
• Again with the space bears, I like having specific characters to build lore off of (but not included in the army);  both lemun Russ and Guilliman are involved in their creation, but the space bears have their own chapter master separate from either of them and no primarch is actually in the army.
• Also, kitbashing, I'm very inexperianced with kitbashing, , and I want to try it here with some greenstuffing and reposing, so if you know of any models that are better or worse for that I would love to hear!

Bit of tragedy:

• I'd like it if there is a bit of tragedy in the history of the faction, it makes them a bit sympathetic even if they are jerks.

Models I can spend a bunch of time on:

• I want to spend some TIME on my next armies models, all layering and glazing.  Any metals will be nmm (never done that before); I want to try some osl, etc. So if you know of models that are especially good/bad for practicing glazing and layering, or very receptive to haveing models that you take a long time on each, I'd love to know!
• I also am going to experiment a bunch with these, so models that look good without looking identical would be good (aka probably not an army where everyone is wearing a matching uniform)

Also, in case it helps, here's a list of things with lore I really like.

• berserk-manga
• chainsaw man- manga
• hero, oh hero- webcomic
• the Magnus archives- podcast
• Spiderwick- novels
• Gideon the ninth- novels

Any suggestions for factions to look at?

[WrathOfTheLion]

I'd personally recommend waiting and seeing what the new Cities of Sigmar stuff looks like. I think that's got a lot of potential for making your own city, its heraldry, its story, the color palette, etc.

Edited December 23, 2022 by WrathOfTheLion

[rfkannen]

9 minutes ago, WrathOfTheLion said:

I'd personally recommend waiting and seeing what the new Cities of Sigmar stuff looks like. I think that's got a lot of potential for making your own city, its heraldry, its story, the color palette, etc.

Thats the dawnbringer crusades right? Do we know when that is coming out? If its in 2023-2024 that would be really fun! (I really like the bit of lore they revleaed) but if its later than that I might just start with a different faction.

[WrathOfTheLion]

1 minute ago, rfkannen said:

Thats the dawnbringer crusades right? Do we know when that is coming out? If its in 2023-2024 that would be really fun! (I really like the bit of lore they revleaed) but if its later than that I might just start with a different faction.

Yeah, it's the dawnbreaker crusades. I don't think it'll take until 2024, it'll likely be sometime like May or June 2023. They're showing off component renders and all right now, but that miniature range is actually almost certainly done, even painted or in progress with the studio, being manufactured and the battletome hitting print stages soon. Just because that's what they're publishing doesn't mean that's actually where they are in design.

[rfkannen]

2 hours ago, WrathOfTheLion said:

Yeah, it's the dawnbreaker crusades. I don't think it'll take until 2024, it'll likely be sometime like May or June 2023. They're showing off component renders and all right now, but that miniature range is actually almost certainly done, even painted or in progress with the studio, being manufactured and the battletome hitting print stages soon. Just because that's what they're publishing doesn't mean that's actually where they are in design.

That sounds pretty perfect if that is the release date! Googling it though, it seems like gw has been fairly ambiguous on when they plan on it? Some people are saying that it would make sense to wait untill the next edition of AoS in 2024, what do you think of that?

[zilberfrid]

I'd choose Nighthaunt or FEC.

FEC has really nice lore wholly distinct from their models, but they are prime candidates for kitbashing.

They imagine themselves as kings and queens, lords and nobles, so if you can build that duality into dioramas, it would be great! From one side, we see the creature it has become, but the other half of the model looks noble (perhaps from Freeguild Greatswords, with the bigger ones Stormcast) and a view from that side paints a different picture.

Dreadscythe Harridans are cursed to have their hands replaced by scythes and driven to bloodlust, while aware of what they are doing but unable to stop it, all because they were healers in life, denying souls to Nagash.

[WrathOfTheLion]

11 hours ago, rfkannen said:

That sounds pretty perfect if that is the release date! Googling it though, it seems like gw has been fairly ambiguous on when they plan on it? Some people are saying that it would make sense to wait untill the next edition of AoS in 2024, what do you think of that?

I highly doubt that it will take until the next edition of Age of Sigmar. The thing is, they usually don't start teasing this stuff for really long timelines like that, with The Old World being an exception.

The first teaser was from May 2022 at Warhammer Fest, so something like a year-ish from then, give or take some, is about what I would expect. In one of their more recent publications, they talk about it not being this year, with the obvious implication that it'd be next year.

 Note that while the first teaser was from May 2022, they almost certainly started the project years ago, and probably had almost all the design work done by the time of the announcement. Given the Dawnbreaker crusades are central to the lore of 3E AoS, I would conclude they started designing the faction quite soon after making that call, before 3E even launched. It takes quite a few months to get the molds cut, the miniatures manufactured and boxed, shipped, etc., so I'd expect the design work isn't just done, but that the miniatures are already even being manufactured.

Edited December 23, 2022 by WrathOfTheLion

[Skreech Verminking]

16 hours ago, rfkannen said:

After finishing up my deathguard speed-painting project, I want to do a 180 and take as much time as possible with an AoS army. My idea is that it would be fun to, before touching a single model, really read the lore and get all the juicy bits. Then I want to use that lore to make a custom subfaction,  with a thematic list, lore and a color scheme. Then spend ages painting each individual model (way longer than I usually do), and then finish it up with a massive diorama containing a whole 2k point army and a bunch of terrain.

However, I am completly blanking on picking a faction to dig into for this project, and I would love y'all's help picking one!

 

Here are my ideas for what I would find fun in the lore:

People:

• So far, my two favorite bits of aos lore I've heard are:
  • 1: an orruk cried when its favorite squig died in the end times
  • 2: Some bonereapers are considered disposable and know it, so they buddy up and agree to fix each other if one survives.
• I want an army of people with thoughts and feelings who care about each other. For this project, I'd prefer to avoid mindless killing machines that can't love or care.  I especially like seeing the emotional side of evil or non-human characters, but all good is also okay.

 

Customization:

• My two favorite mini-painting projects I have seen were the eons of battle inquisitor kill team and the tabletop time space bears army. I really like the idea of kitbashing an armies models, deciding their place in the lore, and letting that influence their painting decisions!
• As a part of that, I want to make an army that doesn't have any pre-existing named characters, I want any characters in this project to be entirely made for this project (from what I understand, there are some factions that are hard to play right without named characters)

History:

• I like having a history of a faction to draw on; for example, in tabletop time's space bears, I feel like knowing what happened to Lemun Russ, how the primaris got made, etc, really adds to the flavor of the legion, and helps tie it into things.
• Again with the space bears, I like having specific characters to build lore off of (but not included in the army);  both lemun Russ and Guilliman are involved in their creation, but the space bears have their own chapter master separate from either of them and no primarch is actually in the army.
• Also, kitbashing, I'm very inexperianced with kitbashing, , and I want to try it here with some greenstuffing and reposing, so if you know of any models that are better or worse for that I would love to hear!

Bit of tragedy:

• I'd like it if there is a bit of tragedy in the history of the faction, it makes them a bit sympathetic even if they are jerks.

Models I can spend a bunch of time on:

• I want to spend some TIME on my next armies models, all layering and glazing.  Any metals will be nmm (never done that before); I want to try some osl, etc. So if you know of models that are especially good/bad for practicing glazing and layering, or very receptive to haveing models that you take a long time on each, I'd love to know!
• I also am going to experiment a bunch with these, so models that look good without looking identical would be good (aka probably not an army where everyone is wearing a matching uniform)

Also, in case it helps, here's a list of things with lore I really like.

• berserk-manga
• chainsaw man- manga
• hero, oh hero- webcomic
• the Magnus archives- podcast
• Spiderwick- novels
• Gideon the ninth- novels

Any suggestions for factions to look at?

Skaven.

clearly it’s the rats.

 

[NinthMusketeer]

Flesh Eater Courts, hands down.

[Fairbanks]

On 12/22/2022 at 9:02 PM, rfkannen said:

• chainsaw man- manga

Woof!

On 12/22/2022 at 9:02 PM, rfkannen said:

After finishing up my deathguard speed-painting project, I want to do a 180 and take as much time as possible with an AoS army.

Any suggestions for factions to look at?

I was going to suggest Maggotkin of Nurgle as they have a mix of tragedy turned dark comedy, but I don't know how you feel about wanting to do another similar army.

FEC and Skaven listed above are good choices.

Idoneth Deepkin would probably be the best Order faction for you. On the one hand, they raid their allies and want to steal souls. On the other hand, their daddy didn't love them after their birth and wanted to throw them back in the oven, so they ran away. Both of these are very related.

[Skreech Verminking]

5 hours ago, Fairbanks said:

Woof!

I was going to suggest Maggotkin of Nurgle as they have a mix of tragedy turned dark comedy, but I don't know how you feel about wanting to do another similar army.

FEC and Skaven listed above are good choices.

Idoneth Deepkin would probably be the best Order faction for you. On the one hand, they raid their allies and want to steal souls. On the other hand, their daddy didn't love them after their birth and wanted to throw them back in the oven, so they ran away. Both of these are very related.

The skaven on the other hand are these incredible crazy racist geniuses, that do enjoy blame-faulting the next skaven for something that didn’t work, cleary that couldn’t have been a miscalculation, no-no,

this meat-thing sabotaged it-it!!

every rat considers themself as the over-genius, the supreme manipulator or even strongest warlord, and thus are always looking for a moment of sabotaging, backstabbing their superior

this blissfulness can only be true till the everything backfires.

from hilarious comedy down to dark and terrible sights to behold, the skaven are often considered the comedy relief yet people do frighten their darker side.

An example would be the gates to hell pit:

”The main gateway to Hell Pit is breathtakingly large, testament to the thousands of slave lives expended in its construction. Gigantic edifices of iron and human bone studded with jewels of pure warpstone, the gates are hung with the screaming bodies of starving men and women woven into the intricate metalwork, side by side with the putrefying corpses of those who have screamed their last. Inscribed atop the portal are unholy psalms extolling the glories of Clan Moulder and warning those who enter to abandon all hope. And not without cause – almost all who enter here will never find their way back, or emerge twisted beyond recognition.“

And if that isn’t enough, they are literally the race that shows the darkest side of us humans.

incarnating our worst fears and characteristic.

something this astonishing can only be the race of mad ratman, looking for their next foe to backstabb.

[rfkannen]

flesheater courts would be really interesting! My first impulse is to kitbash freeguild greatswords with crypt ghoul heads and hands (I like the weapons but like to go wysiwyg), make the crypt horrors into centaurs (use the horse half of free guild pistoliers and the top half of crypt horrors. For cypt flayers, add bat wings like a pegasus. And for the big general, take a dreadlord on black dragon, replace its head with a zombie dragon head, its wings with zombie dragon wings, and then replace the dreadlords head with a standard ghoul head. Does that sound first impression like it would work or are the models the wrong sizes?

 

I actually have the sylvaneth vs skaven box unpainted but built sitting in my closet, so skaven would probably be a smart choice lol. That lore does sound REALLY fun! I should pick up their battletome! Skaven sound absolutly delightful!

[Gitzdee]

If i had infinite time and money i would do one of these ideas.

Take a bunch of Stormcast and put Orruks in that armour and Orruk up some dragons. So i could double it as SCE en Orruks. 

Make some undead Orruks that could double as Soulblight Gravelords using mostly Bonesplitter units.

[Skreech Verminking]

11 hours ago, rfkannen said:

I actually have the sylvaneth vs skaven box unpainted but built sitting in my closet, so skaven would probably be a smart choice lol. That lore does sound REALLY fun! I should pick up their battletome! Skaven sound absolutly delightful!

I should probably mention that the best fluff is probably found in the old world for the rats.

if you’re ever interested in reading a bit through the lore wihtou having to spend too mucb time.

have a look at the warhammer army project website.

you can basically get the book for free, for his 9th edition fantasy.

he basically took all of the fluff from the old world about the skaven and put it into an armybook.

Edit: http://warhammerarmiesproject.blogspot.com/2017/09/download-page-for-ios-users.html?m=1

Edited December 27, 2022 by Skreech Verminking

[Vastus]

I can second FEC as their lore is quite unique and if you look at subfactions like Blisterskin, you can put a different spin on it too.

Besides that, Cities of Sigmar have a lot of potential. My favorite city is Karaznethil, where Sylvaneth and Duardin live in harmony. Duardin smiths work in tune with the Spirit-Song, their hammers striking to match its every note. The settlement's forges are most often used to mold living wood, rather than molten metal. Skilled Gardener-Smiths work diligently to coax wooden armour and weapons from the mineral-rich soil of the Karak-Grove. Etc etc.

You can have a look at the wiki for all the known cities to get inspiration, but you can easily think up your own. The Realms hold endless possibilities after all.

[rfkannen]

I went flesh eater courts! Here's the start of my army!

 

Thank you all for the help. I will def try those other factions in the future!