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Being a huge fan of the old Necromunda system I extremely hyped to see it's pseudo return in the form of Shadow War and immediately started to plot and plan. I was a bit disheartened at first to see we wouldn't be seeing the return of the old gangs but the more I thought about it the more I liked the idea. No waiting for drip feed new models as you watch for your favourite gang to be released and instead you have a huge selection of models from ranges you might never even touch because you can't justify getting a box and not being able to use it.

So I thought long and hard about how I wanted to start this, lots of choices suddenly appeared and from what we know so far it's a simple case of buy and build a box of minis. As a truescale marine modeller the temptation was too great not to make a marine team for my first unit. Chaos has always appealed to me but the codex really doesn't so I thought lets go for it. The models are based on the Cataphracti terminator legs with the front torso of the Tartaros terminator torso and a regular marine torso back stuck on. Bit of trimming and GSing and good to go.






I then just stuck on the MK III arms and shoulder pads and job done. So turning to my squad I decided on doing something a bit different, the core of these guys are Heresy Legionnaires. Basically the idea is that most of them are survivors of the Istvaan massacre and betrayed by their Primarchs then treated as outcasts they decided in the confusion of war. Once the conflict was over they were driven into the Eye of Terror along with the traitors and emerged from the warp only to find ten thousand years had passed.
They have entered a universe of insanity by their standards and the Imperium they helped forged has wasted and become the opposite of everything they fought for. Stranded they had little choice but to raid and plunder small Imperial Outposts to survive often having to scavenge battle fields for parts and ammunition. Along the way they have been joined by more contemporary Astartes of the present day, those that have fallen to chaos long after the Heresy. The reason for them being on Armageddon is purely to get off again, after raiding a small Imperial outpost a miscalculated warp jump dropped their stolen Imperial Transport directly into the middle of a battle between the Imperials and the Orks. Heavily damaged they were forced to abandon their ship and make for the nearest world which happened to be Armageddon.






These guys are very WIP at the moment, the uncorrupted Death Guard is the Sergeant/Champion. I'm still fleshing them out but have an Ultramarine that was corrupted around the 38/39th millennium, a Word Bearer, a Heresy era Night Lord and will probably throw in a couple more Heresy Death Guard. What I am playing around with is adding bits of armour from other marine chapters that they have scavenged but not repainted.

I really get where you're coming from on this, but for me the idea of getting such a variety of traitor legionnaires without a draw just doesn't make sense. If these survivors have literally just been scraping by for however long, then how were they even found by these renegade legionnaires? Also, the Word Bearer specifically has a few problems. I can imagine a Word Bearer deciding that Chaos just isn't his thing and running off, but the Word Bearers hunt down their defectors. Even if that Word Bearer managed to fake his own death, he's still walking around in the same armor. Even if I couldn't find anyone to repaint it, I'd still try to do something to alter my appearance. It also begs the question why any defectors would keep their legion icons on their shoulders if they've renounced their legion. I'd at least scratch it off.

It's more about mutual survival. The Heresy era guys would have emerged from the warp within a fairly recent time period, so from their perspective the Heresy is a recent memory. The idea for them is they band together because they were all betrayed and the Imperium chased them into the Eye during the Scouring along with the traitors. The modern Astartes like the Word Bearer or the Ultramarine are more likely the last members of their respective war bands. Some where along the line, whether it is chance or the will of the Gods, these guys have all hooked up much like a lot of warbands might. Each of them is going to have their own motives and probably are biding their time for when they can seize control, for the Heresy guys the modern Astartes are guides in a universe gone insane from their perspective. One minute they were leading the Great Crusade to reunite humanity under a banner of enlightenment, the next they are betrayed and hunted by their own kind only to find themselves in a universe that is the polar opposite of what they left. They might believe they have free will but it could be the ruinous powers guiding them without their knowledge.
The Word Bearer is probably just a survivor of a small warband, like all the others he is most likely there purely for strength in numbers. Think of him as more of an anti Chaplain if you want. There are no guarantees he won't turn on the others given the chance if he deems them weak or he might decide try to fully turn them to chaos. These guys are the real underdogs, in the bigger picture of the 40k universe they aren't the Abaddons or Khans of the setting they are warriors fallen from grace forced to scavenge in order to survive and find allies where ever they can. The grandeur of the Imperium they proudly helped forge has long since forgotten them and now it's dog eat dog because in the greater scheme of things they are nothing and chances are will die unsung and unremembered rotting on some planet that is lost deep in the records of the Administratium. Each and every bolt shell they take from the dead, each grenade, each power charge of their armour suddenly becomes that much more important without the vast resources of their former Legions or Chapters that they are used to. So you have this silent power struggle going on within the group where no one really trusts each other because the others could decide to kill him purely for his war gear.
The Legion or Chapter markings are more about personal identity and each will have their own reason for keeping them. For the older Heresy Astartes it could just be that the markings have lost all meaning, once the shoulder pad is destroyed beyond repair they might just cast it aside and replace it regardless of what it has on it, for some it could be a bitter reminder of their betrayal, I expect each would have his reasons.