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I know that this has been discussed here before, but all the threads I found were years old. So I thought I'd start a new one.

I want to build a chess board and pieces using Loyalist Marines vs Chaos Marines. What do you think of this for the pieces:

Pawns - Bolter Marines
Kings - Captain / Chaos Lord (traditional Warlord)
Queens - Librarian on bike / Sorcerer on disc (both are the fastest, most versatile HQs that aren't the traditional Warlord)
Knights - Jump pack Assault Marines/ Raptors (bikes are probably too big, but is ok for the Queen if I use a 40mm base)
Bishops - Terminators
Rooks - Devastators/ Havocs

What I like about this setup is King & Queen are HQs, Pawns are Troops
Bishops are Elites, Knights are Fast Attack and Rooks are Heavy Support
So it's a good representation of the "traditional" battlefield roles in 40K

My main Question is: Does that setup makes sense?
In my research of this idea, I found a game called "Warhammer 40K: Regicide" In that game the setup is almost the same, but Devs/Havocs/Lootas are Bishops and Terminators are Rooks

Thoughts?

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I think I see the Bishops as Chaplains rather than Terminators as they represent the religious aspects of war.

I see Terminators as the Rooks, kind of like a solid bastion of strength.

Devastators I don't see having a piece personally unless you wanted to put them in as pawns.

I thought about having Chaplains and Dark Apostles as Bishops since they are "religious" in nature as you mention, but several things stopped me:
1) Needing 2 of each is expensive and is not an appealing purchase.
2) it would really overload the board with HQs
3) If Pawns are Troops and Kings/Queens are HQs, I really like the idea of Bishop, Knight, Rook = Elite, Fast, Heavy in some way. Termies certainly make great Rooks, but for theme I need a Heavy Support as one of the 3.

Devs/ Havocs are the only "40mm base or smaller" sized traditional Heavy Support models I can think of.
I was skeptical at first about using them, but since Regicide uses them, I feel justified.

I just cannot decide if they make more sense as Bishops or Rooks.

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I like the idea of all the pieces being the battle brothers on same base size and the player being the HQ.

King - Ancient
Queen - Champion
Bishop - assault Marine
Knight - veteran
Rook - Devastator
Pawn - tactical.

Use Scouts as pawns.
Use cultist pawns

Dont use bikes.
Model the Librarian as if he is floating as levitation.
Sorc on Tzeentch disc is cool

Use warp talons as knights.

If you do use bikes, model them doing wheelies.

Use Cyclone Misske Launcher Terminators as rooks and use Oblitorators as Rooks.

Tech Marine and Warpsmith are opposites.

I did this with Nids and DE once.

Nids:
T-gants < grubs
Zoans < hat guy
Venoms < castle thingy
Genestealers < horsy
Prime < King
Broodlord < she king

DE
Kabals/Wyches/wracks (your pick) < Pawns
Archon < King
Succubus < Queen
Court of Archon (this was the fun part that i like, i didnt use Uh-gouls) < all others

Does that setup makes sense?

I think the size of a librarian on bike would be a bit big only thing I would reconsider.

Hmmm I would do Elder vs Dark Eldar but Space Marines like....

King: Captain
Queen: Inquisitor(Female)
Rooks: Terminator
Bishops: Chaplin(Black) / Apothicary(White)
Knights: Asssault Marine(jps)
Pawns: Bolter Marine

I would go with:

King: Imperial Governor/Arch Heretic
Queen: Librarian/Dark Apostle
Bishops: Veteran Sergeant/Chosen
Knights: Assault Marines/Raptors
Rooks: Devastator/Havocs
Pawns: Bolter Marines (Vanilla and Chaos)

Reasons:

The King is someone you don't wanna die and want to keep out of combat at all costs. Sounds like either the planetary governor who requested the space marine's help or the Arch Heretic who summoned the Chaos Space Marines in the first place.

The Librarian/Dark Apostle as the Queen is because they're the main powerhouses of their respective forces there, but also acts as an advisor to the King. Reason it's not Sorceror or Chaplain is because the Librarian is more likely to advise an Imperial Governor than a Chaplain, and a Dark Apostle is more likely to corrupt an Arch Heretic into summoning them than a Sorceror.

Bishops are Vet Sergeants/Chosen because they act as Advisors and bodyguards, and are also the "elite" of their respective armies

Assault Marines/Raptors as Knights because they can jump over things with their jump packs

Devastators/ Havocs as Rooks because they're the entrenched Marines.

Rooks as Bolter Marines because Vanilla.

I decided not to include Terminators to keep everyone on the "Small" bases.

Does anyone have any ideas of how to structure a game of actually 40K that feels like chess?

Meaning both players must have:
2 HQs, 1 support Warlord (King) and 1 fast Beatstick (Queen)
1 Elite unit (Bishop)
1 Heavy unit (Rook)
1 Fast unit (Knight)
2-3 Troop units (Pawns)
1000pts or Power level 50

All units must be Infantry, except the Knights and Queen which must be Jump Pack or Bikes.

Primary objective is to kill the King.
Maybe include a rule that allows the Pawns to upgrade to a previously destroyed Rook/Bishop/Knight/Queen unit.
Maybe they have to reach an objective in the opponents deployment zone to do this

Thoughts?

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Daemon Prince... works best as Queen.

 Arkaine wrote:
Daemon Prince... works best as Queen.

The board I am making have 40mm squares, so a DP isn't going to work. It's the same reason why I can't use Biker models as Knights or Queens.
There is also no Imperial equivalent to a DP.

So far, this seems to be my setup:
Kings = Captain/ Chaos Lord. 32mm bases
Queens = Librarian on rock/ Sorcerer on Disc. 32mm
Bishops = Devastators/ Havocs. 32mm
Knights = Jump pack Assault Marines/ Raptors. 32mm
Rooks = Terminators. 40mm
Pawns = a mix of Bolter Marines/ Chainsword-Pistol Marines. All on 25mm bases

I've posted a Proposed rule thread about making a Chess-style mission: https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/739414.page#9601122

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Work in Progress:

Aside from most of the Chaos Marines being unfinished, I also still have to paint the board itself. The raised squares (and surrounding gravel) will be a light-ish gray and the 'empty' squares will be brown dirt with some green flock.

Here's a better look at the pieces:

I'll get better pictures once I am done.

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