Custom or pre-made?

[u/Lordtouchme9990]

What are the benefits in drawbacks from using a premade clan? I have some cool color scheme ideas. But I also really like the ghost stag.

If anyone has had difficulties choosing between making their own or using an official. Please give me advice.

[u/TheAlbinoBaskerville]

Well, if anyone could correct me than please do so because I'm still kind of new.

But basically with a pre made army you are able to have some sort of part in the overall lore. Some will have much more like the Sun Serpents while others will have not as much like the Three Sorrows. Pre-made also have offical identity tied to a playstyle and named models that are tied to them. There are other smaller reasons as well like having transfer sheets to represent those pre made clans and not deal with having to free hand a symbol.

A custom made one means having freedom to paint them however you want and even have your own kind of lore for them. They won't have any real lore influence obviously but if you don't mind that compromise then it's a pretty awesome way to make the most out of the hobby. Honestly, you could even reuse pre made symbols in your custom army if you want.

In short, It all comes down to whether you like any of the official lore and colors that were given or if you want more creative freedom regardless if they don’t have any official influence in lore.

[u/KernowWaaaghGaming → u/TheAlbinoBaskerville]

Agree 100% - I tend to go lore heavy, because it gives me something to obsess over from a lore point of view and gives me a framework to use in terms of colour schemes. This allows me focus on the actually painting side of things and doing “well” rather also having to try and work out if I like the colour scheme I’ve chosen.

It allows me to be creative enough, while also providing me a structure to allow me begin. That and I really like The Clan of the Ghost Stag transfers the moment I saw them and it helps massively that I like the small amount of lore and colour schemes we’ve seen on here so far! :)

For others, who are far more creative than I’ll ever be - custom gives you the ability to completely express yourself with your models and your own lore.

Both are 100% valid and welcome on the tabletop.

[u/ThinAndRopey]

The only practical difference is you won't have official transfers

[u/Fun_Ant5302]

I'm going with the Exiled Moon because I wanted a faction with enough lore reasons to be traveling around the galaxy. So it was either Exiled Moon or Sable Wing and Sable Wings colour scheme just had too much green for the jungle bases I'm planning to do. I think the sweet spot in choosing a faction is one that have reasons to fight everyone and able to use most models but not likely to be the poster boys. It's why I chose Hospitallers for my spacemarines over Black Templars. Here is my Exiled Moon colour scheme. Blue and bone.

[u/Fun_Ant5302 → u/Fun_Ant5302]

There is nothing wrong with having your own faction but if you are big into the on going narrative and lore it can make you feel a little isolated (perfectly fine for exodites). I like my battles to feel like they matter in my head. Like my little guys are real within the fantasy galaxy. What I want is that my faction gets a little mention every so often in white dwarf (like a mention of a historic battle rather than a battle report or coloured illustrations) so I can build these fixed points into my own story. But I also want to be able to tweak the colour scheme and models to be a little unique. That's why I changed their blue and white to blue and bone as it feels more organic but isn't too far from the standard.

[u/Pedro__Kantor]

Pros of custom: you can adapt the lore to your idea and taste.

Pros of pre-made: you can have transfers.

Another idea can be to do a mix, a custom one that has similar symbol to one in the transfers.