About Chaos Space Marine Armour

[Lord Lee]

Hi Guys

 

Quick question before I start planing my painting out for my Chaos Armies

 

How long does a former loyalists armour take to turn into what we see as Chaos Space Marine Armour?

 

I ask because I am thinking of taking a loyalist colour scheme and using it for my version of Black Legion (i.e. undivided but with a few god marked and cult units)

 

Death to the False Emperor.

 

Lord Lee.

[Cheex]

As long as you want it to take.

 

Have a read of the Crimson Slaughter supplement - it gives a really interesting insight into how the Eye affects a renegade Space Marine force. The armour changing can happen relatively quickly, and the way the Warp bends time means that thousands of years can pass in the Eye when only a handful of years have passed in realspace.

 

In other words, you could have a Chapter fall to Chaos a few decades earlier in Terran time, but to them it might feel like centuries. Or minutes. Or some weird combination of both.

 

TL;DR - do what you like.

[Tenebris]

It can be days, it can be decades as well as it can be centuries, time is not common concept for the Warp... so anything goes, really.

 

In terms of corruption, consider that each suit of power armor has an animus, same for each weapon and each vehicle. As the marines of the chapter slowly descend into the worship of Chaos or their emotions echo in the Warp so does their wargear echo this change. A calamitous event can spiral this decent and hasten it while a particularly dogmatic and unemotional chapter would corrupt very slowly.

 

Also it depends if this "corruption" is willing or unwilling, or if the marines in question are just renegades who care not for Gods and Chaos and are in it just for themselves...

 

So as you can understand there is no clear answer to your question, since it falls in the realm of Chaos metaphysics, which are open to interpretation and my interpretation is as good as yours.

 

I think that a renegade chapter would initially desecrate the holy symbols of the Imperium on their battle plate, wargear and vehicles. Some would then repaint their armor as a gesture of defiance or new allegiance, and as the marines will learn more about the "spirituality" of Chaos, where every icon, skull, trophy and charm has indeed some power or an echo in the Warp, so the said marines will slowly adorn their armor with ever more esoteric fetishes or icons of devotion to the Dark Gods.  

[Lord Lee]

Thanks I will go have a read of my friends copy.

 

I am thinking of perverting one of two Chapters

 

Ultramarines - I'm thinking along the lines of a dark mirror where if you go far enough the good guys are just as bad as the bad guys

Imperial Fists - I'll be honest, the fists because of the amazing image of Dorn as the Arch Batrayer in the Dornian Heresy

 

Which do you think would work best?

 

Lord Lee.

[RolandTHTG]

If you can get the Dornian Heresy Thorns of the Imperial Fists look, that would be sweet. 

[Cheex]

Many years ago, I faced an opponent who ran a renegade Ultramarines army at a tournament, and it looked amazing. My opponent used CSM models painted in the clean, crisp style of Ultramarines (who were at the time still very bright blue). It was great to see the then-poster boys corrupted in such a way.

 

That said, I think renegade IFs would look awesome. That gets my vote, personally!

[Pearson73]

Renegade Fists would be ace!

[incinerator950]

What Tenebris said. Armor corription is either esoterric, sporafic, or misshappen. One thing to remember is that you're either manufacturing what a dark admin, your warpsmith/techpriest, or what you scavenge yourself from shipments or captured/dead marines.

 

Mutation has no set pattern in the Warp. You could (rarely) be left alone or be turned into a spawn without Chaos powers.

[Captain Tezdal]

Hurons bunch seem to have gone full on horned mutated chaos space marines we know and love in what.. 90 or so years?

[Chaeron]

What Tenebris said. Armor corription is either esoterric, sporafic, or misshappen. One thing to remember is that you're either manufacturing what a dark admin, your warpsmith/techpriest, or what you scavenge yourself from shipments or captured/dead marines.

 

Mutation has no set pattern in the Warp. You could (rarely) be left alone or be turned into a spawn without Chaos powers.

 

The more the armour itself warps, the more it deflects that descent into madness...

 

Love it.

[Soldier of Dorn]

Hurons bunch seem to have gone full on horned mutated chaos space marines we know and love in what.. 90 or so years?

 

Forget the Corsairs, what about the Slaughter?

They seem to have managed about 20 years between Umidia and their first Daemon Engine.

[Wargasm40k]

You should also consider how much time the renegade chapter even spends in the Eye.  If the renegades don't generally worship Chaos overall and don't go into the eye their weapons and wargear probobly wouldn't change much aside from repaints and icons/trophies since they wouldn't be subjected to the mutative and time effects of the warp. 

[Hidicul]

Which is why I'm using GK and DA models for my II Legion, that and I use those two books along with the CSM to represent three different companys working side by side (though still 13"+ away from each other) They haven't entered the Eye as of yet as they are returning from beynd the Ghoul Stars. I think I have two models with spikes on them, my Lord and a Chosen aspiring champ.

[Kol Saresk]

Hurons bunch seem to have gone full on horned mutated chaos space marines we know and love in what.. 90 or so years?

And the Crimson Slaughter are full-on possessed within a decade.

 

EDIT: Meanwhile we get Night Lords who are all over the place with no mutation to a little to walking in warp-flames to being full-on daemon princes. And are still considered to have some of the purest gene-seed amongst the inhabitants of the Eye.

[Dark Disciple]

How long it takes seems to depend on the individual and their willpower. You wear your soul on your skin/amour if you spend enough time in the warp, as ADB put in Talon.

 

The Crimson Slaughter warped so quickly because they were weak, like the Corsairs.

While the Night Lords for the most part have a very clear sense of who and what they are, a bit like the Iron Warriors. They are still corrupt but the changes are subtle.

The Crimson Slaughter on the other hand, were always insecure and craved praise and following Umidia were driven to madness by the voices and needed to commit acts of unspeakable bloodshed to silence them. All of which makes them easy prey for the warp.