1,000,000 Space Marines can't be wrong: 2nd Ed 40k, Rogue Trader Era Chaplain WIP

A friend of mine is interested in playing 40k, something I played as a teenager but haven't played since the start of 3rd ed. I started with Orks in 2nd, then moved on to Chaos, loving the opportunities both armies gave to convert and mess around with the models. When 3rd rolled around I got the rulebook and Codex Chaos and was left completely cold by the whole thing. The glorious sprawling mess that was my beloved Chaos army was now dry and boring. I played a few games before drifting away from 40k and gaming in general for a good decade.

Anyway, my friend bought Assault on Black Reach but never really got into playing it. He has been enjoying slowly painting the orks and very generously donated the marines to me. When he showed a renewed interest I suggested we play 2nd ed, a much cheaper proposition than playing 6th. We'll be using the Battle Bible until I can get hold of the original rulebooks (or better yet a full box set), all the army lists, rules and wargear are there, condensed down for easy reading.

In anticipation of playing I've been painting up the AoBR marines and buying a few old models to pad them out and make them interesting. I've gone for the Crimson Fists, as who doesn't love the cover of Rogue Trader? Plus they love fighting orks, so they seem a suitable fit.

Here's one of the old school models, a RT era chaplain missing his sword, picked up from Miniature Heroes for just 99p!

 

1988, making him the same age as my girlfriend!

With all the background changes since RT I've decided to make him a crozius arcanum to replace the sword. I've used the top of the banner pole from the AoBR captain as the head.

Not the best conversion but it'll do for now. It still looks far too plain so I've added some embellishments, pics to follow.

I also got this little bundle for 25p! Some random backpacks and arms from 2nd edition, but there were also 3 complete marines from RT, pictures will follow once they are cleaned up and assembled.

I'm getting excited about playing again and all the different army options. We'll start off small, maybe 500 points, ideal for a Chaos biker gang, or maybe a small group of mobile noise marines, or a scout army, some Eldar Exodites, Genestealer cults... It's going to be hard not to get carried away!

So expect more 40k related stuff coming up as I paint more marines and keep you updated on progress.