Who should I play as if I want to be a good guy in 40k...

Tau are insidious. Not good.

Salamanders and Raven Guard are ethicalmarines. Liberators of the faithful and protectors of the weak.

>Lamenters
>Salamanders
>Raven Guard
Sidekicks, please

Salamanders.

Good guys?

Imperial Guard, Vostroyan First Born or Cadia.

I'm not even shitting you. Go a little farther, and cut off a couple of edges in your company. Remember the Imperial Guard are legitimate humans. Nothing more (unless there's psykers, but cuts exist).

Have them be defenders. People trying to protect their family. Leave commisars out, and there's no more grimdark. Imperial Guard are only really grimdark if they themselves fight in a manner of slaughter. Have a nicer regiment, leave commisar out, and solved.

If you dont mind getting fucked over and not being liked, Lamenters

Death Korps of Krieg.

Reasonable marines for one of the nicer custom chapters. Apart from that there aren't a whole lot of "good" guys in 40k. 40k is meant to be a shit hole where everyone is stupid evil alignment. Even the tau are more enslavers than liberators, its just they look like good guys next to the imperium.

If you really want good guys, you'd need to fluff your own. There might be the odd canon Inquisitor or two who isn't totally /pol/ (Amberly Vail springs to mind) but its easier to just make up your own and say they're trying to be good.

I'm planning on making an army of Sororitas recruited from guardswomen too crippled to fight without powered armour once the raging heroes stuff comes out. That's my your dudes/good guys.

Roboute Guilliman of course.
>So began long weeks of relentless pilgrimage for Guilliman, as he rushed from one site of sickness to
another. The Primarch knew that while he was engaged in healing his
followers, his attentions were drawn away from the wider war. Yet of all the Emperor’s sons, Guilliman was
perhaps the most human, and his compassion would not allow him to ignore his followers’ plight if he could
heal them.

>Salamanders are the only true good guys in Warhammer 40k
>common people on homeworld live in a hellish shithole
No.

RPG wise, underhive scum reserve many surprises, as long as some kind of mutant that only want to live in peace and be left alone.

What was that? I can't hear you over the sound of Salamanders purging a planet of human civilians because they dared to coexist peacefully with Eldar.

Ordos Xenos are usually a pretty chill, "Hey, they aren't a threat right now."
Never go wrong with navigators either, while sometimes snobbish most seemed pretty chill when not in the Eye.

Valhallans as well.

For those we cherish!

Salamanders or Blood Angels
Extra points - Lamenters or Celestial Lions
Ultramarines to an extent
An isolated home brew craftworld that just keeps to itself

In the novels Vostroyans are basically shitty Slavs - effectively like Russian shitheads in the 19th century including buggery and killing each other
Cadians - shame about the planet

>those who can't become soldiers are used as live target practice
>good
They're cunts

And yet they thrive there
And imperium hasn't got terraforming tech

That's hardly even that cruel for the setting. The Death Korps are not only selflessly willing to die to the last man, but they basically have life figured out. If a horrible death is almost guaranteed in your world, why not train your people to look forward to it? Conquer the fear of death, and you conquer the grimdark.

Next time you will say haemonculi and emperor's children are good guys.

Unironically a Harlequin Troupe. They serve the Laughing God, the final Eldar god in any actual position of opposition to the Chaos Gods. Their entire purpose is to fight Chaos and run around teaching the lesser races of the hubris of the Eldar and how to avoid the fall via interpretative dance, and they're lighthearted enough to play practical jokes on people.

>Death Korps aren't the worst IG regiment

>Guilliman
>The most human
Fuck GW.

>implying Death Korps care about your shit opinion
>implying Death Korps gives a flying fuck about the mechanicus and won't go full ork with old farming equipment

>And imperium hasn't got terraforming tech
They do, it just takes hundreds of years for it to work, and the Admech don't hand out the machines for it lightly.

No fuck Guilliman, literally.

IMO humanity as a whole, but the space marines specifically are the "good guys"

If it were not for the imperium the galaxy would have plunged into the madness of chaos and the will of the dark gods. Humanity is basically the only thing keeping chaos away at this point.

The imperium is like a strict dad, you hate him growing up but you learn to respect what he did for you and understand that noone is perfect.

>first legion best legion.

Guilliman gets to pound any eldar wench's hole he wants.

Except for Macha who is rightful Emprah pound clay.

here you go

Bobby a cute.

Space Marines, Salamanders: More than any other chapter, Salamanders care less about PURGING, and more about saving humanity from hungry buggos, metal skellies, and other nasty things the rest of the Space Marine chapters are less concerned about than they probably should be. They aren't perfect by any means, but compared to other chapters, they have commited fewer acts of derpy grimdarkness, and done more genuinely good things than most anyone else.
Space Marines, Lamenters: Okay, I lied. These are the "goodest" space marines. They also aren't a huge deal overall though, so while easily the best for short term good, they probably aren't very relevant.
Imperial Guard/Sororitas The pure "Human" factions. Most guardsmen regiments just want to secure that 0.03% survival rate, while Sororitas want to make sure everyone at least dies trying to kill bad guys. And to go another day not being used as impromptu art supplies.
Orks: A seemingly odd choice, Orks are here because they don't hate you. They don't want to kill you, your children, and piss on your grave, they just want to fight. Plus, there's a good chance the greenskins are the best weapon to tie up one of the big 3 nasties long enough for humanity to mop up the rest.
Tau: Only here to tel you not to pick them. Tau aren't "good guys", they are just absolutely irrelevant, which in 40K, is actually similar to being good. The only way the Tau could ever become somebody is if they managed to make themselves vassals of someone who matters, but nobody would bother trying that shit.
Chaos, Tzeentch: This one's a gamble. It's possible Tzeentch actually has a happy ending in store. Nobody would see it coming, that's for sure. Of course, it's also possible he just wants to fuck everyone, so pick with caution.

space smurfs

Would the wolfy mcwolf guys qualify?

I haven't been in the game since 5th edition, nor read their new codex, so I'm probably waaaaay out of date.

But I seem to recall lord high wolf conducting wars of compassion against the nastier bits of the Imperium and in the name of the common man, up to and including telling the GK to go fuck themselves for wanting to kill everyone that fought on Armageddon to keep their existence a super secret?

Rynn's World used to be a well-run planet before the Ork invasion. Now it's reeling, trying to rebuild itself under the auspices of the Crimson Fists.

Farsight Enclaves, more like.

Ehh, they are probably one of the better chapters, but still probably not a "good" one.

>Ollainius Pius...
Never forget what he gave...

Space Sharks are the only good guys in 40k.

>Who do I play as if I want to rub it in my opponent's face what a swell guy I am?
That sounds like an Ultramarine to me.
The rest, not so much.
Just act like a high and mighty prick, be able to back some of it up, and learn why Word Bearers are your enemy of choice beyond anything else.

Owndudes IG army. Voluntary service guardsmen with mainly tanks and tranported troops to minimalise casualties.
If a planet has the right governer and no other factions fucking it over they can afford to actually be nice to theit citizens

Isn't he immortal?

THICC

Sororitas.

Truly primarch sized.

grimdark is an average, only applying to the universe as a whole

it is possible to play as most order-aligned factions, and even a few chaos ones, as an incredibly nice, swell, benevolent guy

this misght actually be recommended, since its easy to be noblebright in candyland, but it takes a truly big heart and resistance to evil to be shining beacon of hope in the grimdarkness of the 40th millennium

What sort of info is there on Raven Guard? They seem like they'd be nice guys, what with their subtle warfare, and the fact that Corax was all "liberation"-themed, but there's so little modern fluff on them idk if they're still bro-tier or if they've stopped giving a shit.

Also what about White Scars? Haven't seen anybody repping them. Yeah, they're barbaric, but they're more open-minded than the Space Wolves.

Sisters. The Ecclesiarchy are the good guys - their missions involve peaceful and gradual conversion instead of purging, they do a lot of charity, they save and educate orphans through the Schola Progenium (yes, I know how harsh the Schola is, but it is necessary and gives the children a good life), they act as diplomats, doctors, advisors, teachers... As long as you're not a xeno (justified, to be honest). The Inquisition, on the other hand...

Guilliman + Yvraine Hentai when?

>good guy

Spooky

What? Do you want to conform to neo-liberal morality of the modern day, aka "muh tolerance, muh outgroup altruism"? If so you can follow your redditor dreams and go Tau or something. If you want to follow the perennial conception of morality of supporting your own damn kind then the Imperium is good. Fascism is good. What is evil? Betraying your species with xenos-fraternization, undermining your people with heresy, corruption from within - includes rooting out materially corrupt officials within the Imperium - etc.

Necrons under the Silent King.

Honestly. The Newcrons are not only the most reasonable faction overall, but also the one with the most potential for actually getting shit done.

>the one chapter that kills more innocents than the piss colored marines malevolent
>good

Raven Guard work well together with the regular human soldiers in the Guard and PDF. Shrike back when he was a Captain used to stay behind and protect regular citizens. Can't imagine he'd still do that now that he's the Chapter Master so it'll be interesting to see how (if) his story progresses.

B-b-but muh Codex

>good guy army

The tyranids are the only option then.

No. Gathering Storm took it too far with memesy "lol so randumb" Trazyn. I'm surprised they managed not to misspell his name as Trollzyn throught the entire book because it's clear they've been looking at nothing but memes for the last few years. I can't take the necrons seriously anymore.

this. the dark angels are nice guys that just really want to make up for their mistakes

You are a bloody idiot, that's what you are. Firstly, the Imperium is not fascist. A grim, totalitarian shithole - yes, but it lacks some of the defining elements of fascism such as modernism (the Imperium is as traditionalist as possible), the desire for a spiritual rebirth, the love for struggle (fascists held war in high regard and frowned on menial work, while the Imperium is military - focused out of need rather than ideology)... Furthermore, the people in this thread are not opposed to the Imperium on the grounds that it's xenophobic, but on the grounds that it's inhumane and callous with the lives of its citizens, and are asking which factions actually care for other citizens of the Imperium.

>hentai
"No"

...

>Good guys.
>Soulless army of World War One stereotypes who committed genocide on their own home world so badly that they need cloning technology to send their army of soulless stereotypes to genocide other planets.
> Definition of Grimderp.

Cunning Guilliman trying to lure the Ynnari forces into a trap.

Bobby G's actual booty call

So...
If Kroot or 'Nids ate a saint, would we get angel birdmen or angel buggos?

>"Yes"

FTFY

Titus and Sidonus were fucking great. Man, fuck Matt Ward for what he did to the smurfs.
Though it seems to help if I assume the really egregious shit he did were lines from some lowly functionary trying to ingratiate themselves, while the Ultramarines were cringing at the bullshit.

yea man.
harlequins mannnnnnnn
keigh

Fucking really?
I mean, Guilliman did care about the masses more than several of the Primarchs, but compassion was a defining characteristic of Vulkan while Roboute was more of a civilization builder and big-picture humanitarian to go with that. Hell, wasn't Vulkan haunted by the memory of killing an Eldar child, despite the fact that the Dark Eldar had constantly dicked over Nocturne and left him with an ingrained PTSD-hatred of the species? Hell, him going after the Eldar helping out some humans was mostly motivated by a concern that if word got out it'd interfere with humanity seeing the crusade through and ultimately fuck things over.

On a separate note, that's a nice pic; where's it from?

Marines Malevolent.

Pretty sure Silver Shroud sisters are the only expressly altruistic army

>The Imperium has someone capable of being reasonable in a position of authority for the first time in millennia
>The Eldar are begrudgingly coming to terms with the fact that they need to actually get over themselves a little and play nice to not die in a festering pit of arrogance

Presumably the big E is shitting out the psychic version of a sigh of relief.

>murder clowns
>good guys

I guess recent events with the Eldar looking to ally with humanity on a more serious basis than usual to do something about the whole Chaos mess has them expressing
>finally! they are learning to extricate themselves from their own self-pitying assholes!
entirely through coordinated vogueing.

Doom Eagles.

Their entire mentality is about being the most self-suffering fatalistic grim bastards possible, but all in the name of ensuring that mortal humans don't suffer like they do.

They all see themselves as being already dead and that suffering and pain is their lot in the universe and nothing will change that, so nothing can hold them back from fighting as hard as they can to protect the innocent and the faithful from feeling their suffering.

They're one of the only chapters that manages to be both very grimdark and very sympathetic about protecting regular humans, without those two sides of their mentality conflicting.

>All of creation suffers, young ones. Only in accepting our own mortality can we make a difference. Only in bearing the burden of our failures can we find the strength to go on. Only in detachment from glory, or honour, or jealousy... from life itself can we hope to spare others from grief.
>We are Doom Eagles. And we are dead already.

Rynn's world, the novel, by Parker is a pretty solid book as well.
The banter between Kantor and his Captain bro is welcomed, and the CF are actually quite compelling, being humane towards the inhabitants and extremely aggressive towards the orks.
The part where Kantor is described as the best warrior the Chapter had in millenia and the one where he starts punching the shit out of the Ork Warboss justify the book on their own.

>YOU KILLED MY BROTHERS!
>Punch
>YOU DESTROYED OUR HOME!
>Punch

Kinda bummed Parker never did a sequel for Rynn's World and Deathwatch, both books were some of the best 40k reads I had.

Genestealer cults are legitimately the protagonists of the setting.

>In the entirety of the vast Imperium, all Astropaths go to their knees in prayer, and are used as a conduit for His words, His blessed thoughts
>ABOUT FUCKING TIME YOU SHITS!

>>The Eldar are begrudgingly coming to terms with the fact that they need to actually get over themselves a little and play nice to not die in a festering pit of arrogance
That's all according to their plan, playing nice for a bit until things get sorted out.

Hell, they even choose Mankind as 'best candidates to serve our interests' only because no one else, in the entirety of the galaxy, could muster what the IoM could.

I was gonna say this actually. There is a house of imperial knights that are from some dark ass planet on the edge of nowhere and it's full of monsters and beasts. I can't remember if it's hawkshroud or another house but essentially the knightly order came to be in order to protect its citizens from the shit that lurks outside the city walls, kind of like if transylvania was an entire planet.

The recent Kingsblade novel is all about Knights. It's actually pretty good, and having galant knights getting into fistycuffs with Word Bearers is quite cool. They have some Paladin-ish moments.

>Hell, they even choose Mankind as 'best candidates to serve our interests' only because no one else, in the entirety of the galaxy, could muster what the IoM could.
Eh, baby steps.
Individual and small groups of Eldar have been pretty decent people. The xenophobia and arrogance is basically cultural inertia as it is in the Imperium, which is kind of a big part of their self-made tragedy themes.

>Hell, they even choose Mankind as 'best candidates to serve our interests' only because no one else, in the entirety of the galaxy, could muster what the IoM could.

So wouldn't that make a political marriage between Yvraine and Guilliman the most sensible choice?

The Eldar get someone with the general interest of all their factions to wield great power within the IoM, which gets them off their back and may even allow them to be useful on their goals.

The IoM get one less front to worry, and someone who can be a useful ally (because webway) and also someone with knowledge on the Webway.

someone red pill me on this.

The empire in general is relatively evil, but if they somehow manage to win and take control of the galaxy then they would gradually revert back to the good guys. Especially now that they have a living demigod on their side. Best possible outcome is if they win in my opinion.

~The Imperium's Ultimate Crusade of Compassion and Honor~

>Loyal, of-the-soil Imperial Guards regiment

>Ultramarines detachment
>Salamanders detachment
>Lamenters penitent astartes
>Crimson Fists detachment
>Doom Eagles detachment
>Raven Guard detachment
>Blood Angels detachment

>Argent Shroud convent

>House Hawkshroud Knights

Who're we missing? Who else shall bring faith and joy to the battered citizenry? The masses of humanity who call out for liberation?

>Hell, they even choose Mankind as 'best candidates to serve our interests' only because no one else, in the entirety of the galaxy, could muster what the IoM could.
That's the rationale both sides use to rationalize/justify working together to themselves every time, but if they work together over a sufficiently extended time, they have a bad habit of starting to actually get along with each other.

Imperium usually solves this by liquidating any compromised units, while the Eldar just shun any of their kin who are clearly suffering from some manner of perversion or what have you. That, and repression. There was some fluff somewhere that had a banshee who was hinted to be suffering from WHAT HAVE I DONE flavor PTSD over having killed a human civilian family to maintain stealth that was buried under the war mask, and what little seeped through mitigated by telling herself they're totally just like animals and not people right? as a mantra.

I think they were called the "reasonable marines"....d4chan thing.

Garvial Loken met most if not all of the Primarchs and said that Leman Russ was the most human. Just saying.

Salamanders, Blood Angels, Ultramarines and Space Wolves. These are the chapters that not only fights for the imperium, but also for humanity. You can easily tell a nice chapter by how they treat their serfs. The four chapters I mentioned treat their serfs with outmost respect and kindness, unlike most chapters that either ignore or outright abuse them.

A Salamanders captain beat the shit out of another chapters captain for shelling civilians. The Space Wolves waged a WAR against the Inquisition and had a Grey Knights grand master beheaded because the big I purged the survivors of a chaos invaded world. These are the chapters that still remember what they're fighting for. And they're fighting for us.

Tanith, first and only.

>Space Wolves detachment

At least Grimnar's kind of Space Wolves, not the more brutal/insane ones.