A first step into chaos

Hi there,

Last time we had some pirate hats, but after all the name of the army is Chaos SPACE MARINES, so the Stars today are the Space Marines. With this I am really setting the tone and style for the rest of the army exploring the coulour scheme of the Red Corsairs. These models of Dark Angel SMs that have been tuned with pirate gear and a few skulls (for that chaos flavour).

During the process of painting these guys I was amazed how much time it takes to just paint them in two different coulurs and two highlights, even if spray primed them with red. I am quite pleased with the end result though. After highligting I dipped them in Army Painter Quick Shade, I might take a notch back on the quality of basic marines and concentrate on the fantastic Chosen models I will use as aspiring champions for the basic CMS troop and the crazy lord on bike idea I have in mind that will set the whole backstory of this little warband. ( a different post will be just about him).

Regarding the "chaosy" stuff  with mutations, spikes etc. I think that  I do not want to restrict myself too much regarding conversions and just cool miniatures that are totally wicked looking and demonic by limiting the fluff that they are just pirate versions of codex astartes marines. As the army evolves there will be more chaos specific units like warp talons, obliterators and demon engines that will probably fit into a bit of fluff story about a starting chaos warband that with time embraces more and more of the dark powers to gain an edge over their loyalist prey. It gives some motivation and fun things to do with the army beside painting and playing it. I should probably do the same with my Tau, but at the moment I am totally into all the crazy and cool stuff you can do with chaos.

So here is the first 4 marines and they are waiting for their Aspiring Champion to get his paint job done back in the Eye of Terror.

Space Marines from front

Pictures of some added items and conversions

How I learned to stop worrying and love the Heretic (i.e. Dark Vengeance unboxing)

Hi, 

This is more of a filler update with nothing new finished. It is more like a preview what I will work on the next months. 

Today after work I took a stroll to my local game store (Poromagia,com) with the intent to by some material for bases, rubble and the like. Tuesdays are gaming days and there were 20 or more people playing Warhammer 40k games at different tables. I watched the games for a moment after picking up the stuff I came for and saw that Tau are quite popular. Then from nowhere the consumer demon possessed me and I picked the Dark Vengeance starter set (7th Edition) with some additional secret boxes of Tau tools of destruction. After spending ten times more then I intended I walked out of the store feeling like Santa with a sack of presents for myself. The staff was very nice in the store and even gave me a free card game in addition to the purchases.

I opened the box and looked through the model sprues in the box. The box comes with about 500 points worth each of Chaos Space Marines and Dark Angels. "Holy cow" was my first impression. The details on the plastic sculpts are insane now days. I remember buying GW plastic stuff over 10 years ago and it doesn’t even come close in quality or detail of modern sculpts. One specific Chaos Space Marine sprue made me fall in love with the Chaos Gods and I let out a mad cackling cultist laughter. You will see soon which one. But here follows an "unboxing" of the starter kit and some impressions. Overall I felt that I got value for my money. Enjoy!

Box Art, a bit bland in my opinion. The newer Dethstorm is much more eye catching

All the contents in one picture

The gaming aids and paper contents of the box. The "how to play" guide is really nice with a simple go-through of the rules a phase at a time with clear examples. Notice that only 6 dice + scatter dice are included...c´mon. You include miniatures worth 100 euros, but only include six dice. Also I see that the horrible measure sticks are the same that first appeared in WH Fantasy 5th edtion box 16 years ago. The templates are nice though. 

Size comparison of the 6th Edition Rule book and the one in the box. A4 vs A5 and ~700 pages vs 208. Nice and handy to only have the rules in one small pocket sized book. It is full colour and the quality is ok. The cover is very soft and will probably look like hell after a few months. 

Comparison between page designs. These ones are almost identical, The design language in the 7th edition feel fresh and striking while the 6th edition is more traditional. I like both .

Then onwards to the first sprue with Chaos Chosens and a hellbrute. This one is absolutely spectacular

These 3 dudes made me fall in love with Chaos. The horns, the horns...and the crazy axe wielding cultist champion. Insane details. Admit it, after seeing them you also want to embrace the dark gods. The left side one with two horns is Krampus himself (Kranon the Relentless IRL)  .

Details of backside of the Hellbrute, I am not a greates fan of the flesh mechanical look, but again awesome details. 

The box contains two of these sprues. Bikes, Space marines and cultists.

Just look at these! They look adorable with their gas masks and spiky periphelia, Would go well wiht the Dark Eldar SM look. 

The Special Edition miniature inside the box, Vrosh Tattersoul, aspiring champion. The miniature is ok I guess, but Krampus sweeps the floor with him. 

Dark Angel Sprue

The Dark Angels are great sculpts with lot of cool details, but... put three horns on the Deathwing terminator in the middle and he would be awesome.  

More details of a terminator with a power sword. I really like the stuff that hangs from his belt (is the spehere a incense burner?)

Details of the bike. The banner pole annoys me tremendously and oterwhise they look a bit meh. If it must have wings I would put them as details from the front wheels going upwards or as covers for the legs.