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I want to repurpose figures into chess pieces. I'm sure this is a subject that has been discussed before, I was hoping to get some feedback or links.

I am one of those fans that loves the lore and the figures but doesn't play the actual game. And though I love the lore and have have read a couple books, I don't know everything there is to know, especially when I go to the Forge World site and see all the various Horus Heresy factions.

Anyway, as chess pieces, Marines vs. Chaos Marines seems pretty easy to sort out who is who, probably plague marines as black pawns. I would probably abandon standard WH40K chapters/colors so I could just stick to more generic white and black color schemes.

So I would love to hear from anyone who has thoughts or input or suggestions or interest on this...other opposing races and armies/ and roles of units(?)--THANKS

Hirst arts floor tiles would create an amazing board, too.

Are there rules for regicide with a chess set?

I'd probably go with the Black Dragons or Emperor's Scythes for the black marines and the white chapter would have to be Death guard.

I am going to try to do this, if I ever get a chance.

Maybe go with White Scars for the white side, and Black Legion for the black.

The other option would be to paint the minis as statues. White marble/alabaster for the loyalists, and black obsidian for the traitors. It would take some practice to paint well, but would look amazing!

As for the minis themselves, I've always thought like this:

Pawns: basic bolter Marines
Knights: Marines with jump packs
Rooks: Marines with Heavy Weapons
Bishops: Terminators or other Elite troops
Queen: librarian
King: Commander

 Paradigm wrote:
The other option would be to paint the minis as statues. White marble/alabaster for the loyalists, and black obsidian for the traitors. It would take some practice to paint well, but would look amazing!

As for the minis themselves, I've always thought like this:

Pawns: basic bolter Marines
Knights: Marines with jump packs
Rooks: Marines with Heavy Weapons
Bishops: Terminators or other Elite troops
Queen: librarian
King: Commander

I prefer using the terminators as rooks myself, and an apothecary/chaplain for the white and black bishops.

And because last time this topic came up, I decided to actually hit the shelf, rather then just talk about what I would do:

Been wondering about this myself for a long time. Always thought a chaplain (or equivalent) should be the bishop with basic troops as the pawns. Commander would be obvious choice for the king. I tend to find it hard to then choose the rooks, knights and queen, it's hard to choose them with quite a few possibilities.

I wonder whether a standard bearer or company champion should be the queen. Assault marine or equivalent would be perfect for a knight, unless you convert a bike/speeder figure to fit on the chess board square. Terminator is a good choice for rook because the figure needs to be solid, of course you could just convert the figure to be standing on a brick tower???

I wouldn't go with white or black armour particularly. You could achieve that with bases - snow/ice for white, Tarmac for black, or just paint them white and black.

 TP^DC Deputy Manager wrote:
Been wondering about this myself for a long time. Always thought a chaplain (or equivalent) should be the bishop with basic troops as the pawns. Commander would be obvious choice for the king. I tend to find it hard to then choose the rooks, knights and queen, it's hard to choose them with quite a few possibilities.

I wonder whether a standard bearer or company champion should be the queen. Assault marine or equivalent would be perfect for a knight, unless you convert a bike/speeder figure to fit on the chess board square. Terminator is a good choice for rook because the figure needs to be solid, of course you could just convert the figure to be standing on a brick tower???

I wouldn't go with white or black armour particularly. You could achieve that with bases - snow/ice for white, Tarmac for black, or just paint them white and black.

I think if you want to go all-in from a modeling POV, the bases and board could be a lot of fun. Make your own board with two different terrain types. Asphalt, lava, ash wastes, indistrial, etc. for black squares, and arctic, marble/eldar ruins, meadow, etc for white. Make a whole bunch of 1” or 2” squares (depending how big you want to go), and put them together to form the board. Base one of the armies with one, and the other force with the other.

I've always found piece identification to be problematic with marine-themed chess sets. Not that you couldn't figure it out (use a crib sheet in the worst case scenario), but a lack of instant recognition means I wouldn't actually enjoy using it as a chess set. I'd definitely suggest going big on the basing for important pieces and small on the pawns. Height differentiation will make getting a quick read of the board much easier, as pawns are instantly recognized (being so low), leaving you only a handful of pieces to distinguish.

I think a chess set board made from hirst arts would be sickkkkkk

Also, I think you trying to paint up guys to be chess pieces is cool, but be sure all the figures aren't going to block eachother's spots on the boards because of pose, and staves/guns n such.

If you find the perfect square size tell us.

On board size, I'd likely go with 2" squares. A 25mm base is 1" in diameter. Marines in very closed poses, like AoBR snap-fit models, could be placed and moved (relatively tightly, but without too much risk of fouling each other) on 1.5" squares, but as soon as bolters start being held out at full extension, heavy weapon barrels protrude, staffs and banners angle outward, etc. things start to get awkward.

40mm (a bit over 1.5") base models are generally bulkier, but relatively closed sculpts. An extra 1/4" all around a model centered on a square should suit most, and ones that lean should easily be shifted to fit without overhanging their designated square.

What an awesome idea. Such a set would look extremely badass.

How about Orcs for one side? Goblins seem like natural pawns.

 Nevelon wrote:

 Paradigm wrote:
The other option would be to paint the minis as statues. White marble/alabaster for the loyalists, and black obsidian for the traitors. It would take some practice to paint well, but would look amazing!

As for the minis themselves, I've always thought like this:

Pawns: basic bolter Marines
Knights: Marines with jump packs
Rooks: Marines with Heavy Weapons
Bishops: Terminators or other Elite troops
Queen: librarian
King: Commander

I prefer using the terminators as rooks myself, and an apothecary/chaplain for the white and black bishops.

And because last time this topic came up, I decided to actually hit the shelf, rather then just talk about what I would do:

I appreciate that you used the same size bases for uniformity.


I've been thinking about what a imperial guard or tyranid set would translate as for what pieces. An Eldar/dark eldar set would be fun too.

There are a bunch of "alternate" rules for chess, including one with a spy piece. It would be cool to incorporate a scout as him


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 oadie wrote:
I've always found piece identification to be problematic with marine-themed chess sets. Not that you couldn't figure it out (use a crib sheet in the worst case scenario), but a lack of instant recognition means I wouldn't actually enjoy using it as a chess set. I'd definitely suggest going big on the basing for important pieces and small on the pawns. Height differentiation will make getting a quick read of the board much easier, as pawns are instantly recognized (being so low), leaving you only a handful of pieces to distinguish.

Smart, youre right--I considered that a bit, there are some solutions. All pawns could be the same pose and paint. I imagine them kneeling and aiming/firing standard bolter to keep them shorter. All same/doubled pieces could be same pose and paint--and incrementally more ornate and more colors in relation to rank. Jump pack marine could be taking off to gain some height with chainsword aloft--they would look like a horse and rider rearing and differenciated from the pawn marines. King and queen would be most ornate and tall --- bearing standards, halos, purity seals, etc.

I forgot if in standard WH40K--are the terminators always ash white or something?

Only the Dark Angel terminators are bone white as opposed to standard chapter colours

White Scars VS Black Legion would fit both background and Chess colors as mentioned. Scouts and Cultists as pawns would break up the all marines all the time look.