Warhammer 40K: Veterans of the Longest War – Chaos Space Marine Classic Minis
The Warhammer 40K 10th Edition’s CSM codex has been with us for a bit, so it’s the perfect time to look back decades at some of the classic Chaos Marine minis that defined the Grimdark’s favorite villains.
Chaos Space Marine’s Earliest Days – the 1980s
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! Remember that back in Warhammer very early days, there was a lot of blurring and overlap between Fantasy and 40K, with many miniatures being sold for use in both systems. Thus you would see oddball things like CSM Renegades riding Warhammer Fantasy horses and other oddballs that would be tossed down the memory hole in the decades to come.
Gone, but not forgotten
Horus, from The Realms of Chaos hardcover, 1988
Chaos Space Marines in the 1990s
Anyhow, back to the CSMs. 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.
The classic mix-and-match metal CSM Chaos Lord. I still have a couple of these metal dudesmen lying around. You can definitely see the “Huron Blackheart” vibe from the one in red up there. Below them you see the set of Sorcerers. The amazing thing is how long these minis soldiered – on for almost 20 years. They were finally replaced with sexy new plastic in 2019!
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! We’ve gotten a new fancy plastic Fabius, but maybe one day we’ll get a plastic squad of his New Men. I can dream!
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. Just recently in 9th Edition we saw a rapid increase in the plastic CSM Cultist mini range, so I have high hopes GW has something nefarious in mind for those. 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 their 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 metal 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. There was also a big set of generic Chaos ones, often used for marking special squads, or heroes.
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.
Chaos Space Marines’s Really ‘Eavy Metal” Dreadnought
Ahh last, but certainly not least, the old-school Chaos Dreadnought. Long before the Helbrute was a thing, this incredibly HEAVY (and spiky) lunk of metal was bashing it’s way around the CSM tabletop. It was a beast to put together, and would easily break – but it also served as a fantastic paperweight, or home defense weapon in a pinch! I was always a fan of the Slaanesh themed crab-claw myself. That power-scourge was fiddly and got caught on terrain all the time!
Fast Forward to the Here and Now
It’s 2024, and the Chaos Space Marines are almost 40 years old. They have a extremely large range of miniatures and are much older thatn many of their players! These days GW is dipping back into the old metal classics to pull out retro and vintage design elements, to merge with today’s modern digital sculpting and the new guy fits into the legacy of his thirty-year-old metal Chaos Lord predecessors. Nice job GW!
There are so many more early CSMs from the mists of time to savor, but there is only so much nostalgia a Chaos-dedicated 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?
A special callout to Rick Priestley’s rocking 1988 fashion! He is OWNING that tabletop!
