# CSM Color Scheme. Is there one?



## LunaticStrain

I recently decided that I wanted to pick up and start a Chaos Space Marine army. I picked up the Chaos Space Marine Battleforce and I've got the pieces all here, but I'm trying to think of a color scheme for them. That's when I realized Plaguebearers are greenish, Khorne Berserkers are red, Tzeentch is blue/purple/pink. Is it even possible to have a color scheme? Or is the color scheme for a CSM army just for the regular units, and not the specialized ones?

Also, my favorite Chaos god is Nurgle, and I thought about doing a nice faded green look for my army, but I have a 2000 point Ork army that relies on mostly boyz, and I don't think I want to see green ever again, at least not painting it. So does anyone have any suggestions for CSM army colors? Or links to pictures of other peoples armies would be cool too so I could just get some inspiration.


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## Midge913

I have always been taken by the color scheme for the Cleaved for a Nurgle themed force.










The really fit into the Nurgle lore without all of the accompanying green that one would usually see in a Nurgle force. As to the specialist units the color schemes for them are as much a part of their lore and background as their abilities. You can always go the route of painting one of the shoulder pads the color of your warband choice to show that they are allied with that particular warband.


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## WinZip

World Eaters Chaos space marines (khorne)









Death Guard Chaos space marines (nurgle)









Thousand Sons Chaos space marines (Tzeentch)









Emperors Children Chaos space marines (Slaneesh)









These are the most popular chaos space marine chapters, and then there are other chapters that serves all the gods. (Chaos Undivided)

Harkenors Reavers (Chaos undivided)









Red Corsairs (Chaos undivided)









Iron Warriors (Chaos undivided)









Hope you like one of these schemes


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## Eleven

I generally paint cult troops in the colors they are intended to have but there is nothing wrong with having faction blended colors for cult troops.

Also, you legion iconography can be strongly expressed through the daemon princes or other leaders and in the many vehicles you should have.

::edit:: There is a picture in the Chaos codex that shots all 4 of the cult troops painted as black legion on page 74. You could use that same idea with different colors to represent any legion.


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## Trudge34

This is similar but pretty good looking for a Nurgle themed army.


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## Dawnstar

I play World Eaters, so naturally my army is Red 

But I painted the Berzerkers (well, am repainting) in Red Gore, painted the CSM's in Blood Red, and my Plague Marines with a Dark Red Red Gore (seriously, like 2 coats of Blood Red, 3 coats of red wash, 2 coats of Red Gore then 3 coats of wash) armour, and Dark Green shoulder pads. My Noise Marines will be Purple and Gold 

So you could (or possibly something I have neglected to think of):
1) Paint each unit in its specific colors eg World Eaters in Red, PM's in Green
2) Paint the entire army one color and adapt the other units to fit the scheme
3) Come up with your own paint scheme and paint every unit that color
4) A combination of numbers 1-3


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## yanlou

There are plenty of colour schemes, not all follow a colour (scheme) that is associated with a particular god, look at the Oracles of Change Warband, there dedicated to Tzeentch but the colors are red and gold.

If you like Nurgle you might want to take a look at these dudes
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/The_Purge
I personally like there scheme, im using the color scheme for my Warriors of Chaos army.


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## Boc

With my army, green is the overall theme, but with the cult specific colours on those troops on the upper body armour to keep it still as a unique unit yet a part of the overall force.


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## Fallen

my CSM army is mainly black, grey, and some bronze.

whenever i make a plague/NM/Tson/ squad (since i hate the hybrid boxes...also less models) i just use my main color scheme as the base and change a set of the armor to a different color, green legs & arms for the plagues ins squad 1; green chest & head in squad 2 etc.


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## TheSpore

Take a gander at this thread ive been posting on. I tried to stay unique with my CSM since ive seen almost every color of the spectrum on them. I havent gotten around my to cult units yet but my bezerks will have bone colored armour with dark red trim, and my PM im thinking just making them look like they where flesh for armour you a sorta leather face look. I don't like the norm and love to make it stand out.
http://www.heresy-online.net/forums/showthread.php?p=819473#post819473


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## SilverTabby

The dedicated troops to a God (like Noise Marines, etc) don't need to be painted any particular way. However, if you wanted to mark them out you could paint them like the rest of your army then do a section of armour (like a chestplate, leg or shoulderpad) in their 'normal' colours.


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## Svartmetall

Remember that the Death Guard's original pre-Heresy armour is variously described as either unpainted (harkening back to their beginnings as the Dusk Raiders) or off-white; the trim on the armour was dark green. Given that the Death Guard never went in for ornamentation or ostentation even before they fell, it seems reasonable to assume that the majority of them would have just left their armour as it was and any extra colouration that happened over the millennia would be the natural processes of decay at work (they're not going to go "Yay Nurgle! Let's repaint our armour..."). Due to the extreme corruption and infection of their bodies, it would be most likely the various liquid effluents of these processes - pus, blood, mucus, chyme and the like - that would ooze and drip over the armour, gradually staining it as time passed. Add in the inevitable rusting of the armour itself, along with caked blood and gore from close-combat encounters, and you have quite a wide palette of colours to work with. 

One of the main things on my to-do list for Pandemic this year is to sit down and work out a proper colour scheme for them which highlights the amount of conversion work I've put into them. There's actually no real reason to automatically go 'Plague Marines are green', when you think about it; I went with it when I first started modelling due to lazy thinking, as much as anything else, but putrescence is by no means exclusively green. Image search decayed, abandoned buildings and rusting machinery and look at the palette of colours that gives you; try some of those on a test model and see what emerges. Look at the range of colours on fungi and bacteria, too. You can image search diseases and their effects, too, if you want total authenticity; but be warned - eeew. No, really. 

I'm a deeply mediocre painter - so, perhaps not the best person to listen to when it comes to painting advice - but those are just my thoughts on Death Guard and general Nurgle colouration. 

hth


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## C'Tan Chimera

A Chaos army is painting freedom at it's most glory. You can do anything and everything with them. I stuck with a simple Snotty style with my Plague army, with some fungus here and there.

But you can do anything you want to. It can be straight up colors or effects or whatever. It all depends on what you want fluffwise.


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## TheSpore

C'Tan Chimera said:


> A Chaos army is painting freedom at it's most glory. You can do anything and everything with them. I stuck with a simple Snotty style with my Plague army, with some fungus here and there.
> 
> But you can do anything you want to. It can be straight up colors or effects or whatever. It all depends on what you want fluffwise.


Well said my good man well said... Go crazy with your imagination Its your army and you spent your own money on it GW supports this and wants you to create whatever comes out of your mind. The codices and books are only refrence to what you wanna do. GW paints salamander marines eyes yellow i painted mine red oh well make yours.


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## LunaticStrain

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions so far guys. At the moment I'm thinking that if I go Nurgle with my CSM, then I'll probably use Bleached Bone for the main area, and some kind of pale orange/goldish color for the metal areas.

On the other hand nurgle doesn't "pop" off the table as much as some of the other gods colors, such as the amazing looking Thousand Sons.


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## turel2

There are some CSM ideas, as well as loyalist marine chapters
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/List_of_Space_Marine_Chapters


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## Stella Cadente

LunaticStrain said:


> At the moment I'm thinking that if I go Nurgle with my CSM, then I'll probably use Bleached Bone for the main area,


if you do this do yourself a favour and save yourself a crap load of time and agro painting bone
just spray them bone
http://shop.warlordgames.co.uk/skeleton-bone-colour-primer-spray-26-p.asp


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## Tymesious

I'm just starting a a CSM army as well and pretty much have run into a similiar problem that you hoave. My issue is that so many of the CSM armies I see are so heavy in black, red, green, and the metallic colors like bronze, steel, etc that I almost don't want to use any of them. So I think I am going to go off the wall and go with a Orange, Green, and Black scheme (thinking almost like Jack O Lanterns) and for the cult armies I might add some of their known colors but was thinking of adding characteristics instead. Such as covering the Berzerkers in blood and gore, making the PM being covered in rot (kind of like a rotting pumpkin), etc.
Over all I think its all up to what you want and how close you want to stick to the lore and whether you want to deal with some ppl not being happy with you if you dont ;P


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