Renegade Space Marines?

[epock]

Hey guys,

 

A friend of mine recently gave me a decently sized Black Templars army. The models are only primed, and are largely conversion-free. I've been thinking about making an army for the glory of the Chaos Gods....and want to ask, are there any definite rules for converting Space Marines to Chaos? Maybe a tutorial somewhere?

 

Also, been thinking of a conversion idea for Thousand Sons, want to know what people think...

 

I would basically take a Thousand Son or two. I wouldn't put a head on the model, but instead maybe hollow out the torso? I don't know much about 1k Sons fluff, but if they are souls trapped in armor would a soul still be able to inhabit the armor if, say, a head was missing or a hole blown through the armor?

[Chaos Lord Shamrockius]

I'm guessing the part of the fulff where they are described as having all seals and openings sealed could be to make sure that the "spirit" stays within the armour may go against having parts missing and holes, what does anyone else think?

 

The general rule of thumb when converting to Chaos from loyalist is more spikes, more spikes and more spikes. I like the idea, BT to 1kSons kinda fits. Maybe post some pics as to what you're doing?

[Dammeron]

I like the idea of representing Thousand Sons with missing limbs, heads and holes blown through them very much; it fits in nicely with the description that they can only be completely destroyed once the power armour tomb has been obliterated. I made some Thousand Sons years ago when I was at uni that utilised skeleton parts from the Undead range, but rather than painting the skulls and bones in a natural colour, I painted them in ethereal blues and greens, as if they were representative of the spirits of the Rubricated battle brothers. Another effective method I've seen is to use stretched and frayed cotton wool to represent ethereal matter; all you need to do is paint it a suitably ethereal colour, and Tzeentch is your uncle :tu:

 

As for converting Space Marines to Chaos, there are several very easy ways it can be done:

 

- Scraping away or defacing the Imperial heraldry on their armour; up until the recent codex that was what distinguished members of the Red Corsairs.

- Adding spikes, skulls, trophy racks, body parts, mutations etc.

- Mixing and matching more recent styles of power armour with the older ceramite armour worn by the Traitor Legions.

- Mixing and matching with Warhammer FB Chaos Warrior bits. This is extremnely effective, and lends the Chaos Marines a nice baroque/barbaric feel.

 

You can also opt for something more concerted and specific: a theme that distinguishes your force as something other than Imperial. Classics include "undead" Chaos Space Marines (easily realised via the incorporation of skeleton and zombie parts), mutated "beast" marines (again, very easy thanks to the availability of Skaven, Beastmen and Tyranid boxed sets), an army derived from or ninfluenced by one of the many Traitor Legions or Chaos Cults and so on and so forth.