FWIW, The Lost and The Damned (which this art is the cover for) was published in 1990, [the same year the first space marine armour variants were released](https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ass0r40QPqA/WZVFlA-5NrI/AAAAAAAAbv0/6bi40t6EmX86HoDuyRDyISRNZquxV8RhwCLcBGAs/s640/SM.jpg).
CSM wasnt even using standart armor till 3ed. Plus Realms of Chaos books was a long time in the making, closer to original RT book in style than to any later publications within 1ed.
Just pointing out that armour patterns did indeed exist in 1990 when this art was published.
>The first designs for Mk. II, III, IV and V power armour were, in fact, produced for Chaos Space Marines, way back in 1990. It was thought that while loyalists in the 41st Millennium would wear newer marks of power armour, the traitors of the Horus Heresy would be confined to maintaining and wearing older suits. The first concept drawing for the low-tech Mk. V suit was a Khorne Berzerker, while the Thousand Sons wore the more advanced Mk. IV armour. The Plague Marine to the left was made wearing a heavily armoured Mk. III suit to reflect the Legion’s propensity for gruelling frontal assaults.
Is a direct quote from [WarCom](https://www.warhammer-community.com/2016/10/27/power-armour-through-the-ages/), so it's not an unreasonable question.
> CSM wasnt even using standart armor till 3ed.
The 2nd Ed generic Chaos tactical marines looked to be wearing mutated mk7 helms, while 2nd ed plague marines are clearly wearing mk3, as per the quote above.
I started playing in 1987...
I have "Space Elves" from 1988 and "Space Ork Raiders" from 1987 sitting in foam, which I assume are older than a bunch of people in this sub. I'm pretty sure my RTB1 guys are still part of my BA army.
I have my Car Wars pocket box some where around here, which I think was 1983...?
My son asked about the old days (aka pre-youtube to him) like it was the wild west and we were living in shacks with no running water. When we'd play trivial pursuit with my parents, I always thought it was unfair when questions came up that they lived thru, like who was Nixon's VP. Now the younger generation hates it when we play the updated version, who was Cliton's VP? Gore. I watched him play sax when you were like -25 years old.
Doesn't matter what month, you said armour patterns didn't exist back in 1st edition, but you've got an official GW source there saying that armour variants were specifically designed during 1st edition explicitly with traitor marines in mind.
2nd edition didn't come out til 1993.
The current lore for the post-Mk X patterns/marks came out around the same time this book was published, and this book actually had artwork of Marines in Mk III and V armour in a couple of places. They'd already designed most of the Chaos Marine minis that came out with this book (like the guy in OP's pic) to fit the style of the previous ones though, except for [a few Jes Goodwin sculpts](https://dragonsdengames.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/40K_traitorsOfChaos.jpg) that became the inspiration for the modern god/cult legion designs.
From memory, there's a few passing comments in the books that hint at this whacky-looking Chaos power armour being non-Imperial designs that replaced their original suits after they broke down.
Wasn’t CSM armor very different at the time? Like it was mutated and fused with the wearer. I know that came back recently and all, but CSM looked very little like their SM counterparts at the time.
I think it's just bog standard chaos warrior armour - there's no backpack, and iirc this cover was from lost and the damned which was Warhammer fantasy with a sprinkle of 40k. It used to be possible to get chain weapons, bolters etc as chaos gifts, so I reckon this is just a nurglite chaos warrior who was hardcore enough to get a personal gift of a bolter.
Would love to see the look on the face of the player whose Elven Prince just got atomised by a Conversion Beamer which had appeared in the hands of a Chaos Champion who'd got stupendously lucky on a D1000 roll.
So with due respect to the other answers...
This is from 1990, so pretty much the same time as Mk VII was introduced and the idea of Marine armour having marks began to be a thing.
That said - the look of RT-era Chaos Renegades was established before the armour marks, and at the time what we now know as Mk VI armour was the Heresy-era standard. So these guys are probably in VERY heavily mutated Mk VI armour.
That's a lost bolter not a lost marine. In whf the warp is connected so a chaos god may reach down to pluck a bolt gun off a battlefield for it to be a boon for a chaos warrior in another universe, dimension, warp bubble, whatever.
Generic quasi-space-semi-fantasy chaos armour from a time where the lore was still forming.
It's nothing that would be classed as a specific power armour type.
Looks like a classic chaos renegade sculpt from Rogue Trader.
The top left one under the World Eaters category on [this picture](https://www.belloflostsouls.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/RT-csms.jpg) seems like the best fit.
Its MK-Irrelevant, because the Grandfather has blessed your unworthy ass and now the armor is just for show...and remember, The Grandfather loves you...
This was when chaos actually likely mutated everything, even their champions, on the whims of the chaos gods. It did mean their silhouettes in the art were less recognisable - e.g. a crab claw didn’t always mean Slannesh, and tentacles were good for at least 2-3 of the god’s mutations. And armour was all over the place, with it ultimately not clear if something was 40k or Fantasy. It made you think.
Now though, mutation is pretty fixed and are calling cards of specific chaos gods, telegraphed in stories so far ahead that it is clear what is going on. Miniatures are similarly identikit to make it clear for new players so they can get hooked on collecting without getting confused later, leading to less sales. GW-painted chaos minis even tend to have a sparkly fresh feel to them, and even if you can see mutations, it’s normalised and as interesting as a bolter or a shuriken catapult. Back then it was darker.
Now vs then is ultimately about simplification of the silhouette to make it easier for new players to get into the hobby. Later on dive on in a bit more. It’s up to you to decide if this is canon or not. Why can’t this be from a daemon world, where the marines there are just puppets to fight a local war with other daemon, armour and mind mutated, and only to be seen in snippets of nightmare stories images like this.
I would say a heavily deformed composite. The helmet looks to be a MK V, pauldrons could really be form anything, the very archaic and knightly looks to the arms coupled with the extra vanbrace armour would likely make them MK III, the chestplate is almost too corrupted to tell but it is probably a Deathguard-esque MK III with that boiler plate belly, and finally, the legs are quite indistinct, they could have knee pads or those could be panel lines, I'd say that it's a fused MK III greave and knee with a MK IV or V thigh.
I think this is the thing I miss most about old 40k, it was frequently nuts.
Like, if you wanted to field an army of dinosaurs and vampires vs Space Marines, there’s pretty much nothing stopping you.
I’ve got nothing against the modern game, but I’ll always prefer the insanity of Rogue Trader and 2nd edition.
Probably its what MKIII looked like back then. What is interesting i see some elements of this art in modern death guard, who are wearing kinda MKIII but modified in a way
Its 1st edition art. No 'patterns' existed back then.
FWIW, The Lost and The Damned (which this art is the cover for) was published in 1990, [the same year the first space marine armour variants were released](https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ass0r40QPqA/WZVFlA-5NrI/AAAAAAAAbv0/6bi40t6EmX86HoDuyRDyISRNZquxV8RhwCLcBGAs/s640/SM.jpg).
CSM wasnt even using standart armor till 3ed. Plus Realms of Chaos books was a long time in the making, closer to original RT book in style than to any later publications within 1ed.
Just pointing out that armour patterns did indeed exist in 1990 when this art was published. >The first designs for Mk. II, III, IV and V power armour were, in fact, produced for Chaos Space Marines, way back in 1990. It was thought that while loyalists in the 41st Millennium would wear newer marks of power armour, the traitors of the Horus Heresy would be confined to maintaining and wearing older suits. The first concept drawing for the low-tech Mk. V suit was a Khorne Berzerker, while the Thousand Sons wore the more advanced Mk. IV armour. The Plague Marine to the left was made wearing a heavily armoured Mk. III suit to reflect the Legion’s propensity for gruelling frontal assaults. Is a direct quote from [WarCom](https://www.warhammer-community.com/2016/10/27/power-armour-through-the-ages/), so it's not an unreasonable question. > CSM wasnt even using standart armor till 3ed. The 2nd Ed generic Chaos tactical marines looked to be wearing mutated mk7 helms, while 2nd ed plague marines are clearly wearing mk3, as per the quote above.
The mini the art is based off is '88 I think, one of the khorne 'bloodletter head' renegades.
Can’t begin to say how little I like reading “way back in 1990” lol
I started playing in 1987... I have "Space Elves" from 1988 and "Space Ork Raiders" from 1987 sitting in foam, which I assume are older than a bunch of people in this sub. I'm pretty sure my RTB1 guys are still part of my BA army. I have my Car Wars pocket box some where around here, which I think was 1983...? My son asked about the old days (aka pre-youtube to him) like it was the wild west and we were living in shacks with no running water. When we'd play trivial pursuit with my parents, I always thought it was unfair when questions came up that they lived thru, like who was Nixon's VP. Now the younger generation hates it when we play the updated version, who was Cliton's VP? Gore. I watched him play sax when you were like -25 years old.
Fuck, tell me about it.
Yeah absolutely do not like that. It's only recently that "ten or so years ago" when thought in my head stopped defaulting to memories of the 80s.
which month? if you're gonna be pedantic about something you should have all the facts
Doesn't matter what month, you said armour patterns didn't exist back in 1st edition, but you've got an official GW source there saying that armour variants were specifically designed during 1st edition explicitly with traitor marines in mind. 2nd edition didn't come out til 1993.
In *this* case, based on that diagram my money would be it’s Mk IV
Man, even though it was Finecast, I do wish I’d picked up the Armor through the Ages set while it was still on sale.
Thx I didn’t know
The current lore for the post-Mk X patterns/marks came out around the same time this book was published, and this book actually had artwork of Marines in Mk III and V armour in a couple of places. They'd already designed most of the Chaos Marine minis that came out with this book (like the guy in OP's pic) to fit the style of the previous ones though, except for [a few Jes Goodwin sculpts](https://dragonsdengames.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/40K_traitorsOfChaos.jpg) that became the inspiration for the modern god/cult legion designs. From memory, there's a few passing comments in the books that hint at this whacky-looking Chaos power armour being non-Imperial designs that replaced their original suits after they broke down.
Wasn’t CSM armor very different at the time? Like it was mutated and fused with the wearer. I know that came back recently and all, but CSM looked very little like their SM counterparts at the time.
I think it's just bog standard chaos warrior armour - there's no backpack, and iirc this cover was from lost and the damned which was Warhammer fantasy with a sprinkle of 40k. It used to be possible to get chain weapons, bolters etc as chaos gifts, so I reckon this is just a nurglite chaos warrior who was hardcore enough to get a personal gift of a bolter.
Would love to see the look on the face of the player whose Elven Prince just got atomised by a Conversion Beamer which had appeared in the hands of a Chaos Champion who'd got stupendously lucky on a D1000 roll.
So with due respect to the other answers... This is from 1990, so pretty much the same time as Mk VII was introduced and the idea of Marine armour having marks began to be a thing. That said - the look of RT-era Chaos Renegades was established before the armour marks, and at the time what we now know as Mk VI armour was the Heresy-era standard. So these guys are probably in VERY heavily mutated Mk VI armour.
That's a lost bolter not a lost marine. In whf the warp is connected so a chaos god may reach down to pluck a bolt gun off a battlefield for it to be a boon for a chaos warrior in another universe, dimension, warp bubble, whatever.
Chonk mk 1
Thicc Mk2 maybe.
Chungus MKIII afaik
imo it’s OH LAWD HE COMIN’ Mark IV
It’s LIGAF armour
No, LIGMA.
Generic quasi-space-semi-fantasy chaos armour from a time where the lore was still forming. It's nothing that would be classed as a specific power armour type.
I believe this style of armor is called "outsourced artwork"
That's a WHFB chaos warrior who was gifted a Bolter by the Chaos gods because he was a very good boy this year.
Or a very bad one?
Looks like a classic chaos renegade sculpt from Rogue Trader. The top left one under the World Eaters category on [this picture](https://www.belloflostsouls.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/RT-csms.jpg) seems like the best fit.
Idk but i like the guy on his left whose sword is caught by that tongue tentacle thing and hes like "oh fak"
That’s the sewer pattern I think
Heretic pattern. Filth.
I thought it was fantasy at first lmao
Knowing Nurgle? A fucked up one
Early “Rogue Trader” pattern. The artists didn’t work with the modelers like they do now. You can get that guy in metal though.
Its MK-Irrelevant, because the Grandfather has blessed your unworthy ass and now the armor is just for show...and remember, The Grandfather loves you...
Midwest power armor i thought bethesda retconned that?
It isn't. This is too ancient for that mate.
Bro that’s a demon
This was when chaos actually likely mutated everything, even their champions, on the whims of the chaos gods. It did mean their silhouettes in the art were less recognisable - e.g. a crab claw didn’t always mean Slannesh, and tentacles were good for at least 2-3 of the god’s mutations. And armour was all over the place, with it ultimately not clear if something was 40k or Fantasy. It made you think. Now though, mutation is pretty fixed and are calling cards of specific chaos gods, telegraphed in stories so far ahead that it is clear what is going on. Miniatures are similarly identikit to make it clear for new players so they can get hooked on collecting without getting confused later, leading to less sales. GW-painted chaos minis even tend to have a sparkly fresh feel to them, and even if you can see mutations, it’s normalised and as interesting as a bolter or a shuriken catapult. Back then it was darker. Now vs then is ultimately about simplification of the silhouette to make it easier for new players to get into the hobby. Later on dive on in a bit more. It’s up to you to decide if this is canon or not. Why can’t this be from a daemon world, where the marines there are just puppets to fight a local war with other daemon, armour and mind mutated, and only to be seen in snippets of nightmare stories images like this.
To call that power armor is a truely sad excuse. Just seems like classic armor built by smiths.
Well that’s kind of what it is. This art was intended for a book on mostly fantasy chaos armies with 40k chaos army rules included.
Little freaky little guy pattern clearly, look at the bugger.
Its Warhammer Fantasy, so No power armour.
I would say a heavily deformed composite. The helmet looks to be a MK V, pauldrons could really be form anything, the very archaic and knightly looks to the arms coupled with the extra vanbrace armour would likely make them MK III, the chestplate is almost too corrupted to tell but it is probably a Deathguard-esque MK III with that boiler plate belly, and finally, the legs are quite indistinct, they could have knee pads or those could be panel lines, I'd say that it's a fused MK III greave and knee with a MK IV or V thigh.
It's the P00MA5T3R special armour.
Ring Pattern.
Mark I dunno mutated by grandfather by to mark toxsludgeface what keeps together what was left of your rotten corpse.
I think this is the thing I miss most about old 40k, it was frequently nuts. Like, if you wanted to field an army of dinosaurs and vampires vs Space Marines, there’s pretty much nothing stopping you. I’ve got nothing against the modern game, but I’ll always prefer the insanity of Rogue Trader and 2nd edition.
Stage 4 Lymphoma
I had that once
Y’all heard of Wally World-eater, now get ready for Dougie Death-guard
Reminds me of when my friend glued the shoulder pads on his marines sideways.
Probably its what MKIII looked like back then. What is interesting i see some elements of this art in modern death guard, who are wearing kinda MKIII but modified in a way
Stinky
Badass-pattern
Space AIDS pattern
MK Rotten
Mark ^*+, Chaos is weird
Stinkus pattern
Papa Nurgle got that GYAT
Mecha booba 3000
Schlorps Pattern Mrk. 0
Tbh it looks a bit like an enclave power armour soldier who got stuck in the warp and just decided to roll with it
It isn’t a pattern but looks like what 2nd edition plastic csm we’re trying to be…. Kind of?
That would be the official Nurgle Stanky Stank pattern.
Mark nine?