Hey team, so I've finally decided to start my second army, and the Thousand Sons are what interest me most with both there lore and battle prowess. However, I am struggling with deciding on a paint scheme for them. They will be a warband of my own making, named the Ocean of Fragments. I was thinking that after Ahriman's Rubric was cast, a small remnant of Thousand Sons wasn't happy with the direction things were headed, so they split off. Witnessing the Imperium's decline, and remembering what mankind almost had when the Emperor's Crusade was at its zenith, they seek to nudge the Imperium back in the right direction from the shadows. The Ocean of Fragments sees themselves as loyal still, but know they cannot return to the Imperium. They strike out at mankind's foes, and seek to master there own fate in spite of Tzeentch, as Magnus sought to do in the past. That said, I cannot decide on colors. I know that I want black as a primary, but the secondary I struggle with. I am torn between purple, red, or blue. If it were purple, I do not know how to have it compliment black, though I love purple and have seen others make it work. Red could be interesting to show what they once were, and I really like the red on Forge World Thousand Sons. Blue would be a way to show that they still are Thousand Sons, but I do not feel as strongly towards it. Finally, I am heavily considering having the Ocean of Fragments done as a commission, as Thousand Sons models have a lot going on with them, and my skills with paint are rather lackluster. Hence why I am here, trying to gather my thoughts before I go bugging a studio. So thank you for any feedback!
Figuring out a color scheme for my Thousand Sons
Being "loyal", I suppose you will not be going for any of the daemonic options that Thousand Sons have access to? Writing up a list and imagining how it will look on the battlefield makes it easier to envision it in certain colour schemes, or at least it works that way for me:)
I like this idea, alot actually, Thousand Sons is a faction I'm going to tackle in the future myself. For my own I'm leaning towards white, very pure, but heavily battledamaged, as you say the loyal red tone is amazing and this artwork is just awesome:
When going with black, is that to sort of reflect the fact they feel they failed the Emperor and are working towards redemption and not allowing themselves to using the red armour? I think the Shadowkeepers of the Custodes are wearing black for that reason, but may be wrong on that one.
Personally I believe it could work out, and I'd suggest staying away from blue, unless for certain glowing effects, some kind of black, red trim, gold here and there and blue effects feel like they would compliment each other pretty well. Although the classic red armour, white cloth, gold trim is so regal, adding an oceanic blue for glow effects would just tie that in perfectly with your chosen name:)
Wherever you decide to take this army I wish you the best of luck, would be awesome to see some of it done here at a later stage!:)
+ Super-Heavy Auxiliary Detachment (Chaos - Thousand Sons) [23 PL, 445pts] +
+ Lord of War +
Magnus the Red [23 PL, 445pts]: Bolt of Change, Gaze of Fate, Infernal Gateway
++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Chaos - Thousand Sons) [98 PL, 1555pts] ++
+ HQ +
Ahriman on Disc of Tzeentch [9 PL, 166pts]
Exalted Sorcerer [7 PL, 120pts]:Diabolic Strength, Infernal Gaze, Inferno Bolt Pistol, Two power swords
Sorcerer in Terminator Armour [8 PL, 121pts]:Combi-bolter, Death Hex, Doombolt, Familiar, Force sword
+ Troops +
Rubric Marines [14 PL, 194pts
. Aspiring Sorcerer: Force stave, Inferno Bolt Pistol, Temporal Manipulation
. 8x Rubric Marine w/ Inferno Boltgun
. Rubric Marine w/ Soulreaper cannon
Rubric Marines [14 PL, 194pts]
. Aspiring Sorcerer: Force stave, Glamour of Tzeentch, Inferno Bolt Pistol
. 8x Rubric Marine w/ Inferno Boltgun
. Rubric Marine w/ Soulreaper cannon
Rubric Marines [14 PL, 194pts]
. Aspiring Sorcerer: Force stave, Inferno Bolt Pistol, Weaver of Fates
. 8x Rubric Marine w/ Inferno Boltgun
. Rubric Marine w/ Soulreaper cannon
+ Elites +
Hellforged Contemptor Dreadnought [10 PL, 144pts]: 2x Butcher cannon, Havoc launcher, Tzeentch
Scarab Occult Terminators [11 PL, 211pts]: Hellfyre Missile Rack
. Scarab Occult Sorcerer: Force stave, Inferno Combi-bolter, Tzeentch's Firestorm
. 3x Terminator: 3x Inferno Combi-bolter, 3x Powersword
. Terminator w/ Heavy Weapon: Power sword, Soulreaper cannon
Scarab Occult Terminators [11 PL, 211pts: Hellfyre Missile Rack
. Scarab Occult Sorcerer: Doombolt, Force stave, Inferno Combi-bolter
. 3x Terminator: 3x Inferno Combi-bolter, 3x Powersword
. Terminator w/ Heavy Weapon: Power sword, Soulreaper cannon
++ Total: [121 PL, 2000pts] ++
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I thought it might be cool to have The Ocean of Fragments use black as a primary color for two reasons: 1) the Imperium is in a state of suffering and decay on a galactic scale, so they wear black to mourn this fact, especially considering what they once had. 2) the way the Great Ocean is described in the novel A Thousand Sons is like an oceanic void, with the Magisters almost swimming through it. Those moments were some of my favorite in the story. Maybe I could use some sort of shiny/glossy black to make it look like water? That'd be awesome!
You are right Marc, I want to avoid Daemons as much as possible in my army. The Ocean of Fragments despise Tzeentch and his ilk, so including them wouldn't make since. Instead I bulked up on Rubricae, and stuck in a Dreadnought. Now I know its a FW model, so there could be controversy, but I just wanted a Dreadnought for the sake of it. Back in the days of the Crusade, Thousand Sons had Dreadnoughts. I figure this one would be a treasured relic of the past.
Lastly, yes both Ahriman and Magnus are in this list. I'd really only use them at 2000pt games. My reasoning is that despite the Ocean of Fragments best efforts, they are pawns of Tzeentch. As such, there may be battles Tzeentch wants to play out in a certain way. If that were the case, the Architect of Fate could send Magnus or Ahriman to ensure things go the way it should. If that makes any sense. In addition, Magnus is still there father, so the Ocean of Fragments wouldn't be overly hostile towards him. Its like a very tenuious partnership.
Really like the name and the fluff sir! Colours schemes are often tricky to crack and can take a couple of attempts to find the one you are happy with. Black and could look nice i think. I like the previous comment about the black symbolising their failure and redemption, also getting a blue in there as a call to the "Ocean" in the name. I'd also consider Incubi Darkness. One of my absolute favourite colours. It's a deep dark blue. I've used it as the base colour in my own army which has a deep sea esk theme about it.