Warhammer 40K RETRO: Veterans of the Longest War: CSM Classic Minis
With CSMs starring in Psychic Awakening Vol. 2, it’s a perfect time to look back over decades at some of the classic Chaos Marine models that defined the Grimdark’s favorite villains. Veterans of the Long War indeed!
The Chaos Space Marines are a very, very early creation of the Warhammer universe. The Horus Heresy was mentioned in the original Adeptus Titanicus of 1988 and the Realm of Chaos hardbacks from 1988-1990. There were some very early “Chaos Renegades”minis back in those heady days – which have long gone the way of the dodo. You can see some of them below:
How’s that for some tabletop crazy. Look at that Land Raider! Look at the Dreadnought vs Bloodthirster fight! Look at that 80s album cover World Eaters logo on the far right!
Horus, from The Realms of Chaos hardcover, 1988
Special callout to Rick Priestley’s rockin 1988 fashion! He’s OWNING that tabletop!
Codex Chaos rolled out in 2nd edition back in 1996 and 3rd edition’s 1999 CSM Codex grew the miniature range into a full fledged force with all kinds of goodies. Below we take a look at some of the early “Collector’s Range” of CSMs from that early golden age of Chaos.
Yes, that is indeed Doomrider in the (metal) flesh. I still have one of those CSM Lords in Night Lords colors – quite an impressive mini for his era. Below them you can see that Fabius Bile has had his unstable bodyguard since the early days and minis to boot! Can we PLEASE get a new one soon!?
Many people forget that there were Chaos Cultist models long long ago. As with all GW universes, you get a festive hat upon joining any evil organization. Below them see some early Noise Marines that are a bit more on the musician side of things than the later models would embody. Also props for the crab-claw Slaaneshi powerfist (it also acts as an emergency flotation device)!
Ok several things to wade into on this set. Up top we have the early Havocs with all thier heavy weapons. They may look a little haphazard, but it was the CSM vibe back then. Below we get to the shoulder pads and you will note EVERY Traitor Legion had it’s own. If you could cough up the cash for a sack of pads, you could dress up your army as your favorite legion. A rare but awesome looking way to theme your army back in the day.
OMG – the old pipe-organ pack Raptors. You still see these rolling around on ebay and some Night Lords collectors still gobble them up for modern or 30K armies, probably because of this single image from 2003’s Index Astartes.
There are so many more early CSMs from the mists of time to savor, but there is only so much nostalgia a gamer can handle in one day.
~Thanks for this trip down memory lane folks. How many of you are still rocking some of these on today’s tabletops?
