The Look of Chaos

[Julgolax]

Looking at all the great pieces of artwork in the Chaos Space Marine codex, I notice the trend of conflict between one defined look of the force and another. I will cite my references by page number for those who have the codex.

 

My biggest reference is technically page 4, an art page. In the foreground we can see the Khorne Berserkers who look very close to the actual models, but as we drift back into the scene, we notice the jagged, wispy, and quite spikey chaos marine squad and the Aspiring Champion / Chaos Lord swinging his evil power sword. 

 

Next, I look at the spread on 26 and 27. What I think to myself is... wouldn't it be awesome if my chaos marines looked like that? I emphasize this now when I compare it to my last reference on page 4. You can clearly tell there is an evident disconnect between the rather clean "evil space marine" look of the classic berserkers and chaos space marines, and the design the artist put forth on this 2-page spread piece. The spiked chaos star designs, the warp-touched glowies of the eyes, mouths, and such, as well as the demonic growths that are the focus of my next point.

 

With the new design of the "organic growths" and skin covered piping, the chaos star motifs and metal trimming, as seen on page 36 on the Chaos Chosen of course, I get the feeling again there is this disconnect between the old and new. My personal preference aside, the "new" look of chaos is quite interesting as a design because it shows us there is an actual effect of the warp and the realm of chaos on power armor as well as flesh, rather than the old design, as I cite on pages 35, 37, and 55. With the Dark Apostle, Chaos Space Marine and Chaos Biker, as well as the Word Bearers Land Raider and Chaos Space Marine seen on the bottom right corner, it's clearly a design from the past. Chaos Space Marines used to just be brooding, evil space marines who welded spikes, chains, and horns onto their armor.

 

What I'm getting at here, besides the point of this growing disconnect, is we've come to a point where for some at least, there might be an unfortunate choice made to NOT field certain units simply because they do not have a matching theme to the rest of the force. When we compare the new Chosen, Raptors/Warp Talons, Helbrute, Heldrake, and Mauler/Forgefiends to the plastic Terminator Lord, pewter/finecast genertic characters, and the rest of the troops, elites, fast attack, and heavy support range, there is an evident lack of these details that really make Chaos stand out from Space Marines and Militarum vehicles. 

 

The problem for me personally now is I'm not a sculpting master, nor the best painter, or the best converter so to even think about touching up the rest of the Chaos Space Marine range with the appropriate chaosy touches is insane. Why would GW forge this new look but then not completely overhaul the range to fit it, causing this design gap?

 

Yes, we can convert them, use our imaginations, or just not care, but the latter two are not how I roll or expect a company like GW to conduct itself. What do my fellow traitors and disciples of the gods think?

[Lord Commander Scrymgeour]

It does seem odd,

I'm just about to buy some of the CSM and berserkers to use in my blood angel army as veterans. I love those miniatures and positively despise the raptors, and the multipart raptor is rubbish, but the DV stuff is awesome. I've never really been a huge fan of the idea that chaos is "mutations FTW!" and prefer the idea that it is a creeping horror inside your head, whispering in a thousand voices every little thing you've ever done that made you ashamed, over and over

I'm not sure what my point was here though

[Julgolax]

It does seem odd,

I'm just about to buy some of the CSM and berserkers to use in my blood angel army as veterans. I love those miniatures and positively despise the raptors, and the multipart raptor is rubbish, but the DV stuff is awesome. I've never really been a huge fan of the idea that chaos is "mutations FTW!" and prefer the idea that it is a creeping horror inside your head, whispering in a thousand voices every little thing you've ever done that made you ashamed, over and over

I'm not sure what my point was here though

 

I'm not saying that people should be restricted, but as it goes, I personally feel the generic chaos models should be, as you described it, "Mutations FTW" because that's part of the lore of chaos now. If you want to have your chaos space marines be "recently turned" you SHOULD just use the generic space marine boxes and do the little touches you want to them. As I said, Chaos Space Marines should be appropriately mutated and changed so they AREN'T just space marines with spikes and chains, since that's what draws most people to Chaos Space Marine models in the first place, I feel.

[Warsmith Aznable]

I prefer the current CSM to the new DV Chosen look. If they update everything to the new style I'm going to be stuck shelling out for FW or casting my own from the old models to maintain design consistency in my warband.

[Julgolax]

I can't say that I approve, but I can understand where you're coming from. It also proves my point, there's such an evident design gap and while I wish they WOULD give us mutation minis to match the Dark Vengeance chosen and lord, I know they probably wont. :(

[Astartes-ULTRA]

I agree here that the newer chaos models seem to set a new standard where chaotic appearance is concerned but a good point to mention regarding the basic looking minis is that not all chaos legions are mutated-up. Take the Iron Warriors with their industrial feel, or the Alpha Legion with their cold sleek.

 

I can perfectly picture the Word Bearers or Night Lords being very warp touched for example, but I dont think it would suit ~all~ traitor marines.

[battle captain corpus]

I think a lot of it comes down to taste aswell.

 

Personally I never really got on board with the "generic" evil marines with spikes and chains. Even back in the 90's Adrian Smith's artwork showed them with twisted and gnarled armour etc. But the minis were what is considered by some a joke almost.

 

I can understand your frustration also, especially (and please this isn't a thread about xenos etc I'm merely highlighting a point :D ) when you consider that Dark Eldar had a radical overhaul to bring them in line with current aesthetics. Why Chaos marines were left how they are? No one going to tell us!

 

One thing I will say though is Lornak Bloodgreed is that merely being part of the B&C gives you an amazing opportunity to explore and challenge your own hobby skills.

 

Never be afraid to try mucking around with parts and greenstuff and maybe take a peek at the Tutorials section?

 

BCC (Dave)

[Quixus]

While I agree that old CSM (i.e. original Traitor Legionaires) should be twisted and warped, not all of them should be "Tentacles and Horns FTW". At least three of the nine Traitor Legions (IV, VIII and XX) shun Chaos to some extent. Such Legionaires should not look like they are on the way to spawndom.

 

A generally un-imperial look should be enough: older non-standard armour marks, a more archaic, embellished feel to the armor and vehicle designs, trophies on racks or otherwise etc.

 

And if someone wants to go all tentacles on his marines, there always is the Possessed box and/or Green Stuff.

[Lucien Eilam]

I don't find them inconsistent at all really. Per the background, Chosen and Raptors should be much more heavily Warp-tainted than the rank and file. If ordinary Chaos Space Marines looked like Chosen, what would be special about being Chosen?

 

The problem with the CSM sprue is simply that it's old, and GW's plastic technology has come on a long way since it was produced. They don't need and IMO shouldn't have the full-on gribbly-ness of the DV Chosen. There's also a limit to how far they could push things without losing compatibility withe the rest of the power armour range.

[Chaeron]

If anything, the mutations sprue has aged worse than most other models... cringe for most of it now.

[Forté]

Notice how you mentioned Night Lords as likely to be very warp touched. Well...not always.

 

Every Legion is pretty much split into smaller warbands. More like a C:SM Company but without rules. Some of them might be very touched by the warp, some reliant on scavanged equipment, others somewhere in the middle.

 

The thing with Chaos Marines that everyone seems to agree on is that there is nothing wrong with them looking completely different to each other. Even when from the same Legion. The Warlord is likely to determine what is fine and what you get executed for.

 

This is how I view each Legion personally:

Iron Warriors: Likely to be less warped due to the amount of body parts being replaced and equipment being maintained.

 

Word Barers: Very tainted and warped due to high contact with daemons and possession.

 

Alpha Legion: All depends on the mission really and who they are manipulating. Likely to use a lot of captured Imperial equipment.

 

Black Legion: Varies across the board depending on time with daemons and the warp, to being new recruits.

 

Night Lords: Varies again but decorations are likely to be along the lines of their trophies of terror rather than horns and spikes of bone.

 

Thousand Sons: Rubricae...nothing there really to warp. Flesh and bone marines. Highly possible thanks to the will of Tzeentch.

 

Death Guard: More rotten and diseased than warp touched.

 

Emperor's Children: Good luck here telling what is warp touched and what is their own doing. This lot could pretty much use any parts from any Marine kits (even Imperial) and be a total mixture but still look right.

 

And yes, I expect others to have their own views. Which is the beauty of Chaos.