White Scars haven't been represented that well in fluff. The whole Mongolian shock tactics just doesn't do it for a lot of people... Fast attack fluff was better represented by the Ravenwing because the author gave the characters more life. If they could write a better book about them I would assume they would get more attention. Also, they need more attention in the Codex's. More special units.. ect...
It's actually not that bad. As you go on to say, all Chapters can do everything they just happen to specialize quite often. So, not having a specialization in the terms of the Ultramarines, for example, isn't a bad thing. Adding a third close combat specialist Chapter seems even farther redundant if we are to go off of what's good for a gameplay standpoint. BT's parent Chapter fits better if they're going off that. I didn't actually mean to lump Iron Hands in the announced Chapters, though that'd be really cool as an opposition to the Iron Warriors. With their trend of First Founding Chapters, just seems most likely they'll continue that trend. Black Templars might be popular on this poll...but what if we had one that encompassed more then the very limited polling function allows? Not hating on the Black Templars specifically, but I think it's best we get the original Chapters in then start doing successor Chapters after. Templars would be good to add as one of the first expansion style Chapters should the Fists be added as the 5th.
Iron Hands as opposite to Iron Warriors? How do you figure? The Imperial Fists are the ideal opposite to the Iron Warriors. The Fists are fortification builders and the IW's are siege specialists. And they have a long standing rivalry/hate for each other. I can understand why the BT's are so popular... But their addition would be redundant. Yes the game is ETERNAL CRUSADE... but The Emperor's Great Crusade existed before the BT's. All the first founding legions/chapters were crusaders before the BT's came to existence. With the announcing of the Night Lords to be included in the forces of Chaos I have to agree that the Raven Guard are needed to balance the ranks. But you also have the Iron Warriors so you need the Imperial Fists. That makes me have to think if they're only doing five... one of the ones already announced needs to go. Balance looks like this in my opinion: Iron Warriors=Imperial Fists Night Lords=Raven Guard Word Bearers=Ultramarines Black Legion =Dark Angels/Blood Angels Unannounced= Space Wolves The Space wolves opposite would fit as World Eaters in my opinion. You must have the wolves because they have such a huge fan base. After writing this out I'm prone to say that 6 starting factions is the magic number not 5. Because of their fan bases you have to have the four Space Marine Chapters that were announced but you need one more addition to balance the game.
Actually, Night Lords are famous for opposing the Dark Angels since the Horus Heresy. To round out the opposition we would need the Imperial Fists to counter the Iron Warriors. Which leaves the Alpha Legion to come in as the last(off the top of my head) legion not completely into worshipping the chaos gods
I'm not aligning by lore but by strengths and weaknesses. Yes, the Nightlords have a famous rivalry with the Dark Angels.. so do other Chapters. But the tactics of the Raven Guard are the good guy version of the Night Lords.
Iron up yo hands! Duel wielding bolters would be pure bad assery Plus, they never get any street cred, mainly because they got screwed in Horus Heresy Would be a nice change of pace from the more typical chapters that are more cookie cutter
Alpha Legion would oppose Ultramarines. I'm a huge Raven Guard fan and would love if I could play them at launch but Salamanders, Iron Hands, or Imperial Fists would balance things out a little better I think. Raven Guard would give sneakiness, especially if Alpha Legion is added.
I voted for Iron Hands even though I know they probably won't be the fifth chapter. I chose them simply because they are the cooler of those options with all the tech marines and bionic upgrades and such. The chapter I really want to be included one day (and I know it will never happen) is the Relictors. The idea of marines running around using chaos artifacts to combat chaos is kinda cool in my opinion and I was saddened to read about what the grey knights tried to do to them (funnily enough the GKs are one of the armies I collect for the tabletop game).
