I’ve always had a bit of an interest in Chaos Space Marines; The idea of the ideal post-human warrior going rogue is an interesting one, and I dabbled in both Death Guard and regular Chaos Space Marines before. But, the Death Guard, while fun to play, were not my cup of tea. They were slow, hard to kill but at the end of the day Nurgle’s chosen legion just didn’t grab me. My normal Chaos marines were to be Red Corsairs, and were a mix of Space Wolves, Iron Hands upgrade kits, and the old Chaos marine box. But even that potent mix did not evoke the post-human dread that a marine of the Dark Gods should.
When Shadowspear was announced, and the news that Chaos Space Marines were getting a revamp, I was very excited. I sold my kit-bashed marines to a player just starting out and on a tight budget for cheap. I bought 2 boxes worth of the Chaos side of the Shadowspear box-set. But, while the new marines looked the part, finally, of a super-human warrior sworn to darker powers, they were mono-pose. While useful to bulk out and kit-bash, I needed the multi-parts to really make a serious effort.
With the release of the multi-part kits, I was both excited and deeply annoyed. Excited because the kit looked really good…but annoyed that they were 70 dollars Canadian! So does the kit warrant the price?
I started to build a squad today, with their focus being on ranged objective holders; bolters and plasma made the most sense. Luckily, despite concerns that these models would be difficult to customize, I can happily report that while the torso and legs are usually one assembly, the arms are a good old flat surface that will accept almost any arms in the kit, and even ones from outside of it, provided the scale is similar. I followed the instructions very loosely, mostly just to make sure the torso and legs matched. The arms were placed on whatever body I thought would look cool.
Below are my favorite builds from the kit!
With the highlights out of the way, here’s the rest of the squad. As usual, you can click the picture for a write up of it.
So yeah, I do think the kit is overpriced, but that being said it IS a good kit. It is too much to hope for a reduction in price, but in this case I’d recommend buying it from a discounted store. My local store, the Giddy Goblin, does a discount. I paid a much more reasonable price for the 2 squads I bought.
Oh, and remember when I got Shadowspear how I said I would convert some models so the duplicates would be less obvious? Well, I completed the Aspiring Champion conversion.
There will be more conversions in the near future; I have 8 chainswords left from assembling my ranged squad, and my other box is also going to be a ranged squad, for a total of 16 spare arms. I’m going to try and cut up the Shadowspear marines to be all melee.
I also have some ideas on what these Chaos marines will be a part of. But your going to have to wait a bit longer to find out what! But I’ll leave you with a clue; No psykers, dedicated to Khorne…but not World Eaters! At least, mostly. You’ll see.
As my usual sign off would get me beheaded by current company…lets see here…. Let the Galaxy Burn! And happy war-gaming!
Not by Strength, By Guile 