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With my Orks all but done (basing) and my Tau firmly on the shelf until they get a Codex I've been dabbling in Chaos as both another army project and as a great army on the table top. One thing that I have never liked about Chaos is they often lack a unifying model scheme, especially for more competitive lists. It often looks like some demons, some Marines, some tanks, maybe some big stuff and to me it's a visual mess. So what I decided to do was port my favorite army ever, Skaven, into 40K as a Chaos army.

My eventual plan is to have various banners and iconography 3D printed (so awesome to have access to someone with one!) but for now I am focusing on base models and getting the army into a playable/legal state. To that end I have began to put together the following based on units I am interested in:

Magnus the Red
For this guy I've gone with a Verminlord on a 100mm base. I opted for the horned head variant as well as the long staff weapon and I am having some Magnus-size wings printed to green stuff onto his back. I may need to prop the base up a bit as I don't know how tall the normal Magnus is off hand but overall this guy is one of the easier conversions.

Abaddon the Despoiler
Right now my working model is most of Ghaghkull Thraka but minus the head and shoot arm. Instead I'm hoping to get a head from a Hellpit Abomination or a similar sized non-GW model and probably a Demon Prince arm. I do need to see the size of this as it might look too big. I think this would show the tech that Skaven typically have in Fantasy which is more on the 40K Ork level while also separating the model from the rabble.

Cultists
Another easy one, I'm just using Clanrats and Plague Monks with Lasgun bits. I have not glued these on yet so I may clip/file down some spears for more natural poses but I think having them slung or something is appropriate for a horde type unit which is relatively unprofessional in terms of fluff.

Mortarion
Right now this is my hardest one and probably going to be the most vague. I thought about another Verminlord with scabbed wings and maybe a custom weapon but I think that's too samey. My working plan right now is Hellpit Abomination with a custom-built platform that an Arch-Warlock is riding on. Of course I'd get some scabby wings for the Abomination but I think this model has a very Nurgle vibe, which can be increased via paint and some green stuff if needed, and the Warlock will give me the gun and Psychic powers. I'm also likely to replace one of the raised arms with a scythe as that's an easy visual cue.

The other way to go, potentially, is just use the Thanquol and Boneripper model. This has the same vibe but would require less work. Boneripper has a very large gun so I could replace the others with a scythe and something else, he also has a good pose with the large gun out and another arm over the head in sort of a swinging motion.

Terminators
I managed to track down the old pewter Terminators as I think the slightly smaller frame sells Skaven better. All I can really manage for these is a head swap and iconography although if I want to go a bit harder I could swap the combi-bolters for warp fire throwers from the Stormfiend kit and just green stuff it onto a stump as a mutation.

Horrors/Brimstone Horrors
Brimstones seem simple to use the smaller rats that come with Skaven kits and put two to a base and then paint appropriately. For Pink/Blue Horrors all I have so far is Plague Monks but I don't think those look very Tzeentchy. A Grey Seer would be better but is also easily confused for a Character and might look bad if I have multiple units.

The Changeling
Yet another simpler one, I'm using a Plague Priest and intend to do a staff swap to something with a Tzeentch symbol. This is actually the one from the Plague Furnace kit as I liked his pose/face a lot more and he fits better on the larger base.

Demon Prince
Again not much effort needed here as a Stormfiend with Grinder Fists fills in wonderfully for Malefic Talons. Wings are needed but that's fine and I think a more mechanical look to them would be appropriate. Storm Fiends fit very well into the 40K aesthetic already, Rat Ogres are a possibility but I think they're a bit hunched/small and don't look very Character-y.

Malefic Lords
This is a tougher one since there's no model to work off of and I want them all to be distinctive since they are Characters. Again all I could come up with unless I want to sink a bunch of money is Plague Monks and make sure they're NOT used for Horrors/Cultists but also give them some banners, raised bases, and so on to show the status. The robes look about right and the default models aren't that Nurgled out, although that's not necessarily an issue.

Sorcerer
The Arch-Warlock is a near-perfect model for this but I'm wary of using the same sculpt if I follow through on my Mortarion idea. While I could do a head/weapon swap the pose and frame is the same which is the problem. Grey Seers are not armored but two of the Warlord models might work with more psychic-y touches added. Most of the actual Sorcerer models just look like a guy anyways, it's really the weapon that sells it versus Librarians which have the hood.

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That's what I plan on initially. I have a lot of the base models although my Magnus and Cultists are the only finished products. I wanted to get impressions on the rest before I follow through since it's a decent cost and bit of work. I'm most keen on making sure the army appears relatively unified, more so than it would otherwise, and that everything sounds like it would be simple to identify for an opponent. Generally I am a competitive player so it's important that I don't go for any modeling advantage and that someone doesn't have to constantly ask "Wait what's that again?" I probably will do some writing on bases for Characters just to spell it out extra clearly.

If anyone has any better ways to do what I want to do please let me know, I'm far from a master modeler/converter.

Weeeeeeeelll, I may have an army like this. For terminators, I used the standard chaos terminator lower, and used rat-ogres for the tops. You could probably then add stuff from the gun-mounting ones whose name I forget for a little more fluffy looking stuff, or bash in termie bits. Mine looked like this, left to right, lightning claws, Heavy flamer/power fist, Termie lord with broken off oversized chainsword as a demon weapon, and another lighting claws guy:

I also flipped it to really stretch the kits, and had rat ogre heads, arms, and legs mounted to the terminator torsos, but those look a bit goofier...


I also have a Huron, a Kharne, and one other I forget kitbash/conversion, but didn't do any of the others you're asking about.

Would it not be better to make it a traitor guard army? The skaven are a horde after all.

I think that genestealer cult would work even beter with their cult ambush rule

Well I'm only interested in playing Chaos at the moment so that's what I'm going for. As I said, competitive first and hobbyist second is kind of my way. Although I certainly have a basis for an IG army with a lot of this stuff which is just fine with me. :]