Ever since I started playing Warhammer 40,000, this is something I’ve wanted to do. The rich background that Games Workshop has created for the Warhammer 40,000 universe drew me in and has kept me entertained for at least twenty years now.
As just about any 40k player will know, the Space Marines are the poster boys of the game. For a long time, I managed to avoid collecting and playing Space Marines (mainly because my brother got them from the 2nd edition starter box, while I got the Orks), but they always interested me. I think part of it was the sense of being the “good guys”, while being honourable, devoted to those they are trying to protect and serving the Imperium regardless of their own lives. Mind you, that’s not true for all the loyal Space Marine chapters of the Imperium.
When I first began collecting the miniatures for this project, I was going to do them up as Ultramarines. If Space Marines are the poster boys for the Warhammer 40,000 universe, then Ultramarines have been held up as the pinnacle of the various chapters of Space Marines. This fact alone enticed me, but the more I thought about it, the more I realised that I wanted to be able to do something different. Something that would make my chapter stand out that little bit from all the other Space Marine armies out there.
This is what lead me to the Celestial Lions. The background that was released by Games Workshop for them (which can be found elsewhere on this site) showed them to be everything I was after in terms of their morals and ethics. To the point where they doomed themselves by going up against the Inquisition. On top of that, they had a different look to them. Having the little lion decorations on their power armoured backpacks set them apart from the other generic chapters.
So that was it, decision made. Then began the path down into madness…