to fluff or not to fluff?

Hi all,
So got my first couple of boxes ready to do over Christmas and I've been thinking of colour schemes and it's lead me to the dilemma of whether I should use a fluffy kabal or make my own one up. I guess the downside is that if you choose one that already exists then if something tragic to them happens in the story (eg. Their numbers are reduced due to a hive fleet ect), that'd be a bit of a bummer, what has everyone else done, have you ksde up your own or stuck with a gw one?

When I started I loosely went down the Kabal of the Poisoned Thorn due to having a surplus of blue paint really! But after trying the model I realised I didnt like the black with blue highlights, didn't work for me. So instead I dry-brushed blue over the black then highlighted and I loved it.

The mistakes that I and I'm sure most collectors have done in the past is picked something then after a year or two thought, I wish I did another colour scheme or they don't like the look of the army. So the solution is to research I think, pick something that you can do well to your painting abilities and that you like the look of. Neat is always better then overambitious!

But aside from that, do some research, look in the aphiotic gallery for some awesome inspiration. You can maybe draw from one of the established colour schemes and then declare that its an offshoot of that Kabal or something if it concerns you! I would always advocate picking a theme which you like, don't rush into it. Maybe practice on the raider passengers that you get. Try a few schemes and find one that you like. You can bend the fluff around what you do to suit really and thats perhaps a good thing! For example I love my Salamanders army, but I think the normal colour is too dark, I want them to be a tone or two brighter and that's what I've done and they were a joy to paint and I love the look of them!

I started mine when there was no set colors for kabals beside "Black Hearth".
So I started to paint them in the Black Hearth style but with Blue instead of Green and used the Iron Thorn transfers.
Now this pattern has become the Poisoned Tongue und i had the "wrong" transfers.

So the Kabal of the Strangled Flame came into existence...

And their arch-rivals, the Kabal of the Burnt Fingers?

How did you find out about my allied Wych Cult?

My Coven units are an established Coven. My Kabal units use the logo of a Kabal that is mentioned but ever detailed (most of the symbols and names in the last codex have no further detail), and my Cult units are one I made up.

Personally I developed my own Kabal, Cult, and Coven. I have made a deep fluff story for who they are and why they are working together. But I have an aversion to pre-made characters. My HQ units are all named, they were my step off. This I feel gives the freedom to use interesting bitz left over from other models, and combining models from other armies I like for counts as. Also having your own army gives you more freedom in choosing allies without breaking their story. Granted I don't take allies. I feel Kabal, Cult, and Coven are actually allies based off of the Fluff.