In our first history lesson for the 40 Years of Warhammer project, we cast our minds all the way back to the first ever Space Marine. As the popularity of Warhammer 40,000 grew, that noble knight of the future needed a suitable nemesis.
But who could stand against the best humanity had to offer? That question got a definitive answer in the form of the Chaos Renegade.
This terrifying specimen is an early incarnation of the now-ubiquitous Chaos Space Marine. Twisted by the ruinous powers, the Chaos Renegade wore similar armour, but with strange organic shapes, horns,* and weapons fused directly into their flesh.**
The plasma gun and chainsword would become iconic weapons of the 41st Millennium and remain a mainstay of Chaos and Imperial forces. This melding of man and machine meanwhile ushered in a grim dark future that was terrifying and cool. His original name? Plasma Hand.
Chaos Renegades were originally an empty canvas, but they soon earned a rich mythos, the dark mirror to the Space Marine Legions. This divide ultimately evolved into the epic saga known as the Horus Heresy.
The civil war that would become the heresy was briefly outlined in one of the first ever Warhammer 40,000 supplements known as Chapter Approved - The Book of the Astronomicon. This early appetiser was fleshed out a few months later in the original version of Adeptus Titanicus and the Slaves to Darkness supplement – you can find out more here. Slowly but surely, the Chaos Renegades were becoming the Heretic Astartes we know today.
Today, the Chaos Space Marines all hark back in some way to this one renegade, from distorted Legionaries with corrupted armour to the inhuman Possessed and the grossly transfigured Obliterators.
Our archivists are already gearing up for next week’s pick, donning the hazmat and preparing to drag out something scaly and mean.
* Literally never a sign of virtue.
** Even that particular backpack design can be spotted on modern miniatures.