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I currently own quite a large Vanilla Marine army. The bulk of it is painted but it is starting to show its age a little.

I've also nearly completed my Dark Eldar army and I'm looking to starting my next project.

So my main question is: If I were to completely re-do my Marines as a Pre-Heresy Legion could it function as both?

Obviously as and when I wanted to use it as a Chaos Marine army I would require units etc from the Chaos Codex which I'm happy to buy. It is certainly cheaper and less time consuming than redoing my marines and then buying and building/painting an entire new Chaos army.

There are other issues such as the units available at that time. I'm perfectly happy to overlook the fact that my army will consist of models in the incorrect Power Armour for that given point in the timeline but I'm not keen on using models for units that simply did not exist then. I'm not the most up to date guy on the fluff but I've read nearly all the HH books and a good percentage of the codicies out there, I'm sure the majority of the tanks are fine (albeit newer versions) but were Land Speeders about then? Attack Bikes? I'm unsure on Thunderfire Cannons as well as Iron Clad Dreadnoughts etc?

So any thoughts guys? Could it work? Are there any glaring contradictions I havent picked up on that might shoot the idea down in flames? Wanted to get the scope on it's feasibility before I make a decision to start and then it fall on its arse after a couple of weeks due to something I hadn't thought of.

Any comments/ideas will be much appreciated.

Boar

Since technology in 40K is largely regressing, rather than progressing, yes, all available units and toys would be around during the Heresy, as well as a fair few no longer in use or known in "40.000"

Well thats good to know, looking through the 2 respective Codicies my first thought is what would I do with regard to special characters? Simply buying the Chaos Chars wouldnt really do as the 'spikey' models wouldn't fit it with the theme of a pre-heresy army. I'd want to keep the confusion to a minimum for the sake of my opponents.

I suppose I ought to decide upon my legion first and take it from there, I'm thinking either Luna Wolves (having models for all the Mournival would be cracking) Alpha Legion or Night Lords. Have the Night Lords always had their winged helmets or are they additions since the heresy? Hopefully its the latter as part of the point of this is not to have to change my range of models much (adding winged helmet heads to my entire army would be a bit of a pain in the arse)

Anyone have any links or know of where I can find the pre-heresy Legions colour schemes for me to have a butchers at?

Ta
Boar

I actually did pre heresy emperors children for this very reason. That and I really didn't want another army with black armor.

Nice to find someone who has done the same, did you find it worked well as both Vanilla Marines and CSM?

What did you do regard to characters and the like? Did it ever raise any eyebrows from opponents?

I'm currently in the middle of doing this myself. I don't have much game experience(1game since '98). But I feel like this has to be able to work. Im currently de-chaosing my chaos guys a little bit. So my army could be a little more ambiguous. I love this idea and am also interested in how viable this could be.

So your going the other way and coming from the Chaos side and making them more 'Imperialistic' if you will? What Legion have you decided on?

I've looked at a lot of the Pre-Heresy colour schemes on Lexicanium and am really torn between Luna Wolves and Alpha Legion.

Looking through the codicies I realised I will need to buy only a couple of Chaos units to fill in, mainly Daemons (not utilised by the Alpha Legion much but nvm) and Defilers.

Yeah I too think it should work ok, certainly will take up less of my time and resources than doing an army of both.

I'm seriously considering turning it into my first Dakka Blog as well. I think it is a project that is a bit different and would be good to show the transformation from their current state.

Good luck with your army and if you get chance to post any photos please do so as would be great to see your progress (would help to keep me motivated too!

Boar