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While I'm sure that a lot of people take their Chapter Master and name him General MacGuffin or whatever the case may be, how do you feel about renaming/remodeling named characters for the counts-as rules. For instance, a C:SM player painting Marneus Calgar red and labeling him Zapp Brannigan, or fielding a rather strangely converted Abaddon model labeled Tom, Lord Blendtec.

Is this generally received as "play the fluff however you want" or does someone ever get irritated that the Talon of Horus gets remodeled as a Power Blender?

As long as it's on the same base and mainly WYSIWIG, do what you want.

It's your game.

I'd applaud anyone who'd manage to model a power blender!

Pretty much what Sheokronath said, do what you will so long as you aren't changing the base size or the model size to varying extremes. And these examples sound entertainingly specific. Details?

I love it, personally. The sergeant of my Salamander Sternguard squad bears a suspicious resemblance to a certain Phantom-of-the-Opera looking guy in nipple armor.

Modelling coolness outweighs all. The special characters are there as a resource to fit into your own army, not just a chance for GW to sell "official" models.

I use this guy as Belial in my Terranwing force


He's in big armour and has a big gun. He is painted distinctly from the other models in the army. He can therefore represent anything I want

I use Shadowforge's Farmer's Daughter model as my Jacobus - I call her Saint Jaci. She's a model on a 25mm base with a shotgun, that's close enough for everyone I've played with.

In fact, the moment I put her down, if I haven't told them in advance or played them before the reaction is usually, "I take it that's a Jacobus counts-as?"

I have Victoria from Malifuex counting as Guardsman Marbo in my army. They have Sisters of Battle allies so she fits right in. Just did some splicing to get the gear to line up.

This is my counts-as Kharn, who leads my Word Bearers cohort. I know he doesn't much resemble Kharn but I like him, and I imagine that his glaive can be thrown, accounting for his Plasma pistol. As Flinty said, rule of cool wins in most situations.

I've been fielding Marcus Cutter, Chapter Master of the Blood Ravens for a while now.

As long as the model is the right colors or an obvious conversion, I have no problem with it. It's when my opponent puts down a green Dark Angels Tactical Marine in his Black Templar army and declares him Pedro Kantor that I have issues with.

 greg0985 wrote:
This is my counts-as Kharn, who leads my Word Bearers cohort. I know he doesn't much resemble Kharn but I like him, and I imagine that his glaive can be thrown, accounting for his Plasma pistol. As Flinty said, rule of cool wins in most situations.

Thats a nice model. Also it has a holstered pistol, so why do you need to do wacky throwing things with anything?

I've been planning to use some of the anime heroines from reaper for Marbo, so I can laugh then a teenage girls just appears and blows up the enemies's gak.

I use Lysander as my Terminator sergeant with appropriate arm swaps (SB/PS).

I then use a GK Paladin with TH/SS as my counts as Lysander.

My force is Fists/Templar based, justification behind it is that the GK Paladin looks like a knight and is actually Siggy, and Lysander is still *just* a Terminator Sergeant.

It's (relatively) fluffy, is mostly WYSIWYG, and works nicely.

If someone has bothered to get an appropriate model, possibly modify it to WYSIWYG, paint it decently, and isn't a jerk... I'm all for it. I really like counts-as, it flavours things nicely.

Grey unpainted plastic with mold lines and 'my leman russ is a wave serpent' ...no.

Since chaos has had the same characters since 2nd edition, it allows those that play other legions or warbands to still have special characters. Id say that WYSIWYG is in full effect however. I have a Huron count as for my Word Bearer host. He has a lightning claw with a heavy flamer mounted on it and a power axe.

Here is Absalom, my count as Huron. He's got all the correct gear...just more appropriate for my Word Bearers.

If you click on the second pic, it should come up.

I use normal tau stealthsuits with an extra fusion blaster for commander shadowsun. No pics sorry :(

I do all counts as to fit my army fluff here is Loki Snaketongue my counts as Abby (unpainted)
I also have a Huron and I am currently working on a Fabius Bile

Good topic. I am of the mind that if you are creative and represent the war gear counts as is fine, especially if using a Pedro Kantor as your general in your own self made chapter. Rule of cool and individual paint schemes is the way to go. This is our game after all and the "fluff" is just that. We create our own visuals and color schemes. I like Kantor but want other than blue ...

I'm absolutely fine with it, as long as its clear and modelled by some suitably imposing dude (not just "that red space marine is XXX")

I don't see why there should be any issues with it.

All those models look awesome and are WYSIWYG.

I do not have the codex with me but I am pretty sure I saw mentioned in the new C:SM that "Count As" for Special characters are ok as long as you remember that they must keep their Chapter tactic.
eg Captain Shrike converted as Ultramarines Assault Company Captain must still use Chapter Tactics: Raven Guard.