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In building Marines for my HH army, I'm having some issues in which ones to choose. I love Mark IV, but from what I've seen, they are noticeably smaller compared to Mark III and even more so Mark VI. Would an army of Marines with different marks look weird due to the size differences, or are those difference negligible? Also, I was thinking of putting the weapons arms from Chaos Space Marines (my army is Word Bearers) on the bodies of Heresy Marines, but would the arms look ridiculously large on the Mark III and IV bodies?

Arms should be fine, they're mostly covered by shoulder pads anyway, and shoulder pads are about the same size on any Marine.

I find the same base size does a lot to make minis look like same scale next to each other. You could also cheat a bit with tactical rocks if it bothers you that much .

The size difference between the marines is noticeable if you have them nearly lined up next to each other and are viewing them on a computer screen. On the tabletop, your not going to notice it unless you put like a single mark VI dude in a squad of Mark IV. And even then at arms length I shouldn't think it'll stand out.

If your tastes don’t extend to multiple tactical rocks (and it could look a bit weird if all you Marines look like they have an inferiority complex), try building up the height of your bases using plastic card ‘risers’ of the appropriate thickness. Then cover the risers with gravel, basing material etc. It looks pretty good.

Yeah it's not noticeable unless you are very specifically looking to find an issue.

Everyone should notice an over 10% difference.

But even GW don't give a **** about scale anymore.

The difference isn't really noticeable at tabletop distance. If you're looking to display dudes and really stare at them closely you will see a difference but other than that you're all good. Do note that chaos space marines are a bit bigger than Mk6 so compared to mk4, mk5 and mk3 they can look a bit hench. The weapons, heads, backpacks and arms all transfer between all the marks fine though. Although the chaos marines and the mk6 are way less modular than the MK3 and MK4, so you will need to do some work with a blade, greenstuff and files to get it looking right.

For a size difference chart it goes from smallest to largest: Resin mk5, resin mk4, plastic mk4, resin MK3, plastic mk3, plastic Mk6, chaos space marines.

Hope that helps!

I use Mk III, IV and VI in a mixture in most of my squads. The spoiler has a picture of my Tactical Support with volkite chargers and chainswords. This squad is mostly VI but a few VIs are mixed in, but it's the best pic I have showing the models with scrutiny. On the shorter marks' bases, I used some cork sheeting to conceal the height difference some. Which when I apply the technical paint kind of sloppily, you really have to look for it.



When you see all the marks together at a more typical table distance and angle, I don't think it is really noticeable. The below spoiler is an example.



I've also made use of the MK VI heavy weapon upgrade arms for those squads. Regardless of armor mark. The style is more noticeable than any proportion.

Saturmorn Carvilli wrote:
I use Mk III, IV and VI in a mixture in most of my squads. The spoiler has a picture of my Tactical Support with volkite chargers and chainswords. This squad is mostly VI but a few VIs are mixed in, but it's the best pic I have showing the models with scrutiny. On the shorter marks' bases, I used some cork sheeting to conceal the height difference some. Which when I apply the technical paint kind of sloppily, you really have to look for it.

Spoiler:

When you see all the marks together at a more typical table distance and angle, I don't think it is really noticeable. The below spoiler is an example.

Spoiler:

I've also made use of the MK VI heavy weapon upgrade arms for those squads. Regardless of armor mark. The style is more noticeable than any proportion.

Thanks for the pictures, that's a great-looking army. I do agree, they look fine when mixed together. I was also kind of worried about the older marks looking silly next to MkVI due to not being as well-proportioned, but it doesn't look that bad. On the issue of the heavy weapons, I was looking at the MkVI sprues, and they do seem to fit the older marks. Do the MkVI special weapons fit MkIII and MkIV as well?

They do but you need to do a little but of cutting at the wrists

Bobug wrote:
They do but you need to do a little but of cutting at the wrists

Do you mean that bit of plastic hanging off the end the wrist? I notice that the FW sprues don't have them.

 ArcaneHorror wrote:
Thanks for the pictures, that's a great-looking army. I do agree, they look fine when mixed together. I was also kind of worried about the older marks looking silly next to MkVI due to not being as well-proportioned, but it doesn't look that bad. On the issue of the heavy weapons, I was looking at the MkVI sprues, and they do seem to fit the older marks. Do the MkVI special weapons fit MkIII and MkIV as well?

Thanks, I try to put a decent paint job, that doesn't take forever to paint.

The MkVI special weapons can fit the other marks. As mentioned, it's usually a matter of trimming at the wrist. The MkIII is a tad more tricky with the forearm 'cuff', but no more than seasoned novice to intermediate kitbashing stuff. One important thing to note is that MkIII and MkIV come with a few special weapons (melta and plasma) that can be used in place of the MkIV. Which saves some time kitbashing MkVI on to them.

I've even kitbashed a couple of the MkIV heavy weapons onto the MkVI body. I could skip getting the missile launcher and heavy bolter upgrade sprue, as I ordered enough MkIV kits to create sizable squads just with them.

What about the hand on the bottom of the special guns on the MkVI sprues? Does that clash with the hand on the arm that grips the bottom of the gun on the III and IV arms?

For everything but the rotor cannons, you can shave off the left hand and use the MkIII/IV left arm. The rotor cannons are a little different in that you probably should keep the left hand on the weapon and remove the left hand from the mark of choice's left arm. There are other ways to go about it too. Depending on how you try it.

It’s a small point of detail (perhaps only for those of us truly cursed with OCD), but when using weapons from other armour types with Mk III armour, you need to add 2 tiny rivets to the forward edge of the plate over the back of the hand.

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